2/25 3/2Developments in Asia & Indochina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb0aZc97dKc

Overview:

At first US had not been worried about Chinese Civil War between the nationalist Guomindang (GMD) & Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Japanese aggression first against Manchuria and then against mainland China led US gov’t to increase support for Jiang Jieshi’s nationalist gov’t after 1941

1945 – US & USSR hoped China could form a coalition gov’t

Truce broke in early 1946 US continued support of Jiang Jieshi and as communist victory seemed imminent, US began to slow aid

Communist China was seen as a defeat of Truman’s policy of containment

1950 – Sino Soviet Treaty increased US concerns and contributed to the McCarthy ‘witch hunts’

US would give aid to France in their struggle against communist led Viet Minh in Indochina

US attitude toward communism in China

Early Soviet Involvement◦ 1921 CCP (Chinese

Communist Party) is formed & advised by the Bolshevik gov’t of SU..Sun Yat-sen would pass away in 1925 & Jiang Jieshi succeeded Sun Yat-sen & moves the country to the right (democratic)

1937 US had not placed much importance on events in China

Japan’s invasion of China causes concern because of US interest in Pacific region

China would be liberated from Japenese control with the dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki

US Involvement in China

US does not want CCP to take control – send aid and troops to key cities

Marshall Mission – create a coalition gov’t backed by US & SU

Civil War between CCP & GMD 1946

US sent $200 million in aid to China and Jiang Jieshi to fight off CCP but in 1947 Jiang flees to Taiwan as capital city Nanjing falls to CCP & Mao proclaims the birth of the new People’s Republic of China

Impact of communist victory in China

August 1949 – SU explodes first atomic device

One month later China falls to communism

No longer threat of nuclear monopoly enough to contain communism

Truman’s gov’t scene as weakMao & Stalin sign 30 Year Treaty of

Friendship, Alliance & Mutual Assistance

McCarthyism

Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist crusade within the US

‘Red Scare’ – suspicions of people working within our country to aid SU

McCarthy claimed he had a list of 205 State Department officials who were members of the Communist Party

Later he would reduce # to 57

Red Scare became more hysterical after the start of the Korean War

1946 – Congress made increasing use of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)◦ McCarthy used HUAC in his

campaign against communism in the US

NSC-68

In response to the 1949 events of Asia Truman called for revision of Cold War policies

NSC – 68 is a document that claimed SU as a military threat because of its commitment to world wide revolution and its status as a totalitarian dictatorship

Called for a HUGE increase in military strength

Historian Walter LaFeber points to this document as key element of the Cold War

Expand its conventional and nuclear forces

Containment – be replaced with confrontation - ‘roll back’ of communism across the world◦ In Asia, Europe, and

eventually Soviet Union

US permanently have a powerful military

Korean War

Cold War tensions in Asia shifted from China to Korea, which had been divided in 1945 at the 38th Parallel (for purpose of dealing with Japanese troops)

North Korea – Kim Il Sung supported by SU – US believed Kim was merely Stalin’s puppet, as part of Soviet Union attept to world domination

South Korea – Syngman Rhee supported by US

Communist North attacks the South in attempt to reunify country

SU had been boycotting participation in UN Security Council…UN agrees to send army to help South

North had early victories…pushed back by US General Douglas MacArthur

Korean War

As US / UN forces drive up the peninsula and invade North Korea

This was a clear sign the US had moved past its containment policy

Mao wanted to stay out of conflict but feared of a US invasion of mainland China – China gets involved on North Korean side

MacArthur calls for nuclear weapons vs. China

Stalemate in the war sets in and an armistice is signed in 1953

US begun to arrange a series of military alliances in the Pacific, designed to secure what it called Defensive Perimeter

Crucial to this was the reconstruction of Japan – vast industrial potential…US gave $500 million in aid to rebuild

Treaties

ANZUS Pact – US support against communist activities in Pacific Region while Australia and New Zealand promised to help US against any military aggression

Korean War Impacts – increased military spending, becomes global phenomenon, US takes role as global ‘policeman’ against communism

Exit Card

Who were the two political parties in China? Who were the leaders?

Who did the US support in China?

What did NSC-68 call for?

What were the impacts of the Korean War?

Why was the rebuilding of Japan seen as crucial?