US Policy Towards China Change Between 1945 And 1950???

Question 1

Why did the USA get involved in the Chinese civil war???

Answer 1

• To build upon the success of Japanese reconstruction
• To contain the spread of communism
• Economic expansion and to protect existing markets
  =To maintain the American economic boom
  =To act as a barrier to communism to countries like Malaysia and the Philippines

Question 2

Why did the USA get increasingly involved in the Chinese civil war???

Answer 2

• American support for Jiang was increased when the USSR (along with Chinese communist party) liberated nationalist Manchuria
  =increased the fear of communist expansion in Asia
• Increased support for the communist party in China; dwindling support of Jiang and the nationalist party meant America poured more money into China to counteract the increasing support of the communist party

Question 3

Why did America’s goals in China become more difficult to achieve by 1949???

Answer 3

• Insufficient military aid from the USA- some resented supporting the corrupt Jiang
• Loss of support from Chinese people for an unpopular and corrupt Chinese nationalist gov
• Poor morale in Jiang’s army: communist propaganda
• US priorities placing Europe above Asia
• A strong independent movement which opposed US imperialism
• Soviet military support for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party

Question 4

The USA trying to protect China against the internal communist forces

Answer 4

• Uneasy truce between Chiang and the communists while the Western powers were fighting the Japanese
• The communists were already too strong for Chiang
• Between 1946 and 1949 Chiang received hundreds of millions of dollars in aid like military lavish aid
• However this aid was ineffective against the hostility of the Chinese masses
• Chiang was unwilling to curve the power of the landlords and the masses
• Most potent force was the peasantry
• A blow to many Americans who could not believe the aid did not work
• The civil war in China was beyond the control of the US gov as it was an internal product

Question 5

Why was American help in China doomed to fail???

Answer 5

• The US continued to give Chiang aid even after finding out he was corrupt and neglecting his people and their needs
• Some Nationalists put aid back into the communist party
• The US had see itself as the guardian of China

Question 6

Stalin and his reason for helping China

Answer 6

• The takeover in China was seen as a response to the setting up of NATO and the overt commitment of American troops in Europe
• Stalin having been denied control of the whole of Germany had contrived to become the master of China

Question 7

What is the main reason for the success of the CCP in China by 1949???

Answer 7

• Increased support for the Communist party
• America prioritised Europe
• Corrupt Chinese Nationalist Gov
• Soviet military support for the CCP
• CCP’s basic strength lies in its peasant armed forces= revolts exploded in the South
• Pressure in the Gov from communists like in Yugoslavia
• Unbearable weight of taxes, conscription and threat of starvation in the North

Question 8

Why did popularity of the CCP increase???

Answer 8

• Mao Zedong the communist leader
• the peasant army was the CCP’s basic strength which lead to an explosion of revolts in the South
• Many peasants got involved in the Chinese civil war due to extreme famine in the North

Question 9

In what ways was US support for Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists misguided and misjudged???

Answer 9

• The Americans ignored that Chiang was corrupt
• Mao had a strong peasant force
• Lavish military aid was insufficient

Question 10

In what ways was US support for Chiang Kai-Shek doomed to fail???

Answer 10

• External forces (American military and economic influence) did not outweigh internal forces (strength of Mao, strength of military and peasant army)

Question 11

Why was a non-communist China important to the US

Answer 11

• Stop the spread of monolithic communism in Asia
  =China had a significant geopolitical location as it neighboured the USSR and Japan
  =Japan was susceptible to communism so the USA needed to prevent a communist takeover which would prevent a takeover in Asia

Question 12

International trade embargo

Answer 12

The US cut off trade and orchestrated an international embargo with China once they came under communist rule

Question 13

What did the US not do until 1979???

Answer 13

The USA failed to face reality and continued to recognise the Chinese communists as the legitimate Gov of China

Question 14

Why did the USA become more fearful???

Answer 14

They became for fearful of the potential threat from combined forces of the USSR and China especially after the successful detonation of the Soviet atomic bomb in 1949 (no more monopoly effect)

Question 15

What happened in 1950 between the Soviets and Chinese???

Answer 15

The Soviet-Chinese Treaty

• The Soviets gave Mao $300 million of Soviet aid and promised mutual military assistance
• Heightened US fears of monolithic communism

Question 16

The communist Victory in China meant…

Answer 16

A communist China, North Korea and a red USSR meant

US fears of monolithic communist expansion in Asia heightened (particularly threatening Japan)

Question 17

What sort of intervention was concluded in Asia???

Answer 17

The USA concluded that it would need military as well as economic intervention to contain communism in Asia (help in North and South Korea)

Question 18

SEATO

Answer 18

The USA continued with its use of an alliance system as a tool of containment
Eg The SouthEast Asian Treaty Organisation was formed in 1954 and in 1951 a treaty was signed with Japan

Question 19

The China white paper

30th July 1949

Answer 19

• US policy towards China and Asia was not linked to Europe
• USA had an interest in attempting to ensure that the CCP did not fall under the influence of the USSR
• Dean G Acheson (new secretary of state after Marshall) was committed to supporting the KMT (Nationalist party) in Taiwan
• Would be done secretly so the USA did not appear to be an imperialist menace to China
• Acheson did not want to reinforce the Sino-Soviet alliance
• Supporting Nationalists in China was a means to an end
• In the white paper the USA attempted to justify its withdrawal from direct military support for Chiang Kai-Shek

Question 20

The US ‘defensive perimeter’

Answer 20

• military security of the Pacific and the policy of The US should support this
• military defence of Japan was the responsibility of the USA
• defined in January 1950 in advance of the Sino-Soviet treaty (followed in Feb)
• goal was to protect strategic and economic interests of the USA in the pacific where markets provided rubber 60% of tin and essential raw materials like oil

Question 21

How far did NSC-68 represent a change of American foreign policy???

Answer 21

• Sept 1949 the USA’s nuclear monopoly ended when the USA tested it’s own atomic bomb
• NSC-68 stressed the urgency of building the USA’s political, economic and military power
• Focused on the globalisation of the Cold War and put more emphasis on containment (global policy needed)
• Explicit about the need for military intervention as economic aid was not enough
• Security had to become a dominant element in the national budget
• Increase military spending

Question 22

Why did America continue to help Chiang Kai-Shek and Taiwan

Answer 22

• The US could not desert a friend in need
• Did not want to seem soft on communism
• Truman did not want to seem soft on communism
• Taiwan had strategic value as it was a potential barrier to contain monolithic communism
• Economic value in Taiwan as it provided rubber, tin and raw materials which will end up helping the American economic boom
• Chiang symbolised the US determination to deny the outcome of the civil war, and so the Americans wanted to assure that his regime succeeded