The Cold War Part 3 China

China and the End of WW2 When the Japanese invaded in 1937 the Nationalist and the Communists made peace and united against the common foe The Peoples’ Liberation Army (Communists, led by Mao) Mobilized the Peasantry Fought a successful guerilla war against the Japanese Retook large parts of Northern China from the Japanese With their victories and literacy programs won the peasants loyalty The Guomingdang (Nationalists) (Led by Jiang Jieshi) Had an Army of 2.5 million Had support of the US ($1.5 Billion + Flying Tigers etc.) Much went to War Profiteers Rarely engaged the Japanese and prepared to fight the Reds Thus lost the peasants respect

Civil War Resumes 1946-49 The Peoples’ Liberation Army (Communists) Is a motivated and experienced military force Has the respect and loyalty of Peasants and Workers As the “Revolutionaries are not held responsible for the bad economy and thus can… Promise “liberation and reform” The Guomingdang (Nationalists) Has an inexperienced army with many untrustworthy officers Lacks the respect of the people Is the Official Government recognized by the UN As such gets the blame for all China’s economic and cultural problems

The Reds Win! By 1949 the Peoples’ Liberation Army has pushed the Guomingdang out of Mainland China The Nationalist “Republic of China” controlled only the island of Taiwan, on which they set up their government with US support. The Communists established the “Peoples’ Republic of China and the Mainland with Soviet support. In 1950 the “Peoples’ Republic” invaded and took control (1951) of Tibet. The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan combined Religious and Secular leader, fled to India along with many refugees. After a failed revolt in 1959 which India supported, relations between India and China deteriorated so much that there was a border war in 1962. China and India are still rivals.

Land Reform, Nationalization and the “Great Leap Forward” Mao immediately set out to do land reform taking land away from wealthy families and distributing it to the people. The peasants were organized in groups of 200 or so families on collective farms More than a million Landlords died in the process. Heavy Industry (Steel mills, Coal mines etc.) was Nationalized, A “Five year plan” was made, goals were set, and by 1957 production was up! In 1958 the “Great Leap Forward” was begun Collective farms were enlarged to up to 25,000 people who lived were moved out of their homes and into dorms, raised children communally, and owned nothing. Peasants lost any incentive to work hard, food shortages resulted, crop failures in 1962 led to famine and 20 million died.

Cultural Revolution! After the failure of the “Great Leap Forward” tension rose between Communist China and the Soviet Union There were disputed about borders and leadership of the communist world. Mao took a step back from direct rule and started “The Cultural Revoltion” Other leaders compromised on socialist policies allowing small family farms to sell there own products and workers to compete for wages. Mao was horrified… He called on the youth to rise up, forming militias, the Red Guards The Goal Complete equality, Colleges were closed, intellectuals were “purified” through hard labor, 1000s died. Zhou Enlai, primier and communist party founder led the army in putting down the Red Gaurds

Will the Real China please get to Veto! When the UN was formed the Security Council Five Permanent Members were given Veto power. They Were the Soviet Union, US, UK, France and The Republic of China (that is the Guomingdang) Even though they lost control of China itself in 1949 UN General Assembly Resolution 505 in 1952 let the Guomingdang continue to sit on the security council and have Veto power. And kept the Peoples’ Republic of China out of the UN

“Only Nixon Could Go to China” In 1971, Zhou Enlai, concerned about China’s Isolation and reliance on the Soviets, invited the US table-tennis team to a series of matches in China. Later in that year the US supported the People’s Republic joining the UN. UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 gave the Peoples’ Republic of China full membership, and veto power The “Republic of China” (Guomingdang) was thrown out. In 1972, Richard Nixon President of the US, visited China He met with both Mao and Zhou Enlai negotiating cultural and trade exchanges between the US and Communist China And thus driving a wedge between the Soviets and China, splitting the communist world. Nixon, famously anti-communist, was the only politician who could do this without being accused of being soft on communism.