1. MAO’S RED CHINA
China and the World,

2. CHINA’S PLACE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COLD WAR
PRC Comes into Being at Beginning of Cold War
Natural PRC Would Ally With USSR
This Alarmed the Americans…Domino Theory in Asia
Mao’s Foreign Policy Largely Dictated by Marxism-Leninsm
The Communists came to power in China shortly after the start of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR, an atmosphere of mutual fear and suspicion led to a complete breakdown in relations between the two countries. This would inevitably have profound consequences for the PRC’s international relations.
As the USSR was a Communist country, it was natural that the new Chinese government should want to be its friend and ally. However, the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, which they signed in 1950 alarmed the US government. The Americans feared that Communism would now spread from the USSR and China into other countries, especially in South-east Asia
For much of the period , Mao looked to formulate a foreign policy in line with Marxist-Leninist ideas about worldwide revolution. However, the desire to export revolution abroad was always balanced by considerations of national security. Mao, Zhou Enlai sought to restore Chinese sovereignty and make China in to a great power, as it had been in imperial times before the decline of the Qing dynasty.

3. Uncertain Relations With the USA
The Marshall Mission
US Provides Aid to Kuomintang During Chinese Civil War
After Civil War, US Appears Willing to Recognize PRC
Cold War Hysteria (McCarthyism) Prevents Recognition
Red Scare, Particularly After Signing of Friendship Treaty With USSR
When in 1945 civil war broke out in China between the CCP and Kuomintang, President Truman sent General George Marshal to China to try unsuccessful to broker a peace. The Marshall Mission ended in January In 1945 the USA had helped out the Kuomintang by carrying out a massive airlift of Kuomintang troops to Manchuria and in 1948 the US Congress passed the China aid act, but this support was limited as the USA realized how corrupt the Kuomintang government was.
Mao’s victory in 1949 came as a shock to the US. Though after the success of it, it appeared as though the US was willing to recognize the PRC but a huge outcry against Secretary of State, Dean Acheson’s statement in August 1950 that China could not have been saved by US intervention put much political pressure on President Truman’s administration to be tough with China. The Republicans accused Truman of doing too little too late. Many in the US feared the spread of Communism all over South-East Asia, especially after the USSR and China signed a Friendship Treaty in February This coincided with the beginning of the Red Scare and the era of McCarthyism in America. The USA refused to recognize China until 1979 (though it allowed it admission into the UN in 1971).

4. EARLY 1950S: WORSENING RELATIONS WITH USA
Chinese Invasion of Tibet Incorporates Region Into China
The Korean War
China Refused Entry in United Nations
USA Supports and Protects Chiang Taiwan
Two Events in 1950 seemed to confirm the Americans suspicions. First, in October, Chinese forces invaded Tibet, overthrowing its ruler, the Dalai Lama, and making the country into part of the People’s Republic of China. Second, when war began in Korea between the Communist north and American-backed anti-Communist south, China sent 300,000 troops to help North Korea. For the next 3 years, 1950 to 1953, Chinese and North Koreans fought an expensive and bloody war against South Koreans and an American army, officially called a United Nations force because it also contained units from other United Nations countries.
As a result of the fighting against United Nations forces, the People’s Republic of China was not allowed to join the United Nations Organization. Instead, Chiang Kaishek’s government on the island of Taiwan was recognized as the true government of China, and was given a place in the UN. The Korean War also made the Americans decide to support Chiang Kaishek. From 1954 onwards the American nay protected Taiwan from possible Communist attack by patrolling the Taiwan Straits.

5. THE SINO SOVIET SPLIT
Hostility of UN and US Toward China Brought USSR & China Closer
Khrushchev’s Warming of Relations with USA Disturbed Mao
Mao Disagree with “Peaceful Co-existence”
Armed Clashes Ensue Between China and USSR Along Border
1960s USSR Stopped All Aid to PRC
The hostility of the UN and USA toward Communism made the relationship between China and the USSR much stronger. Though this started to cool considerably when the new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, began to develop more friendly relations with the USA and other capitalist countries in the west. The Chinese strongly disagreed with his view that there could be peaceful co-existence between communist and capitalist countries. This disagreement was made worse by a series of armed clashes between the Soviet and Chinese troops along the Amur River, the border between the two countries. The Sino-Soviet split, as the disagreement is known, became so deep that the USSR stopped all economic aid to China by In 1964 tension increased when China tested its own atomic bomb. Further armed clashes on the Ussuri River in 1969 and in other borer areas in 1974 and 1978 led many people to believe in both countries that a major war would occur between them in the near future.

6. CHINA AND THE USA Relations Remain Bad in the 1960s
China Alarmed by USA Presence in Taiwan and Involvement in Vietnam
Vietnam Conflict Brought US Bombers Close to China
US Withdrawal From Vietnam Leads to Improvement in Relations
China’s relations with the USA remained poor throughout the 1960s. In addition to America’s presence in Taiwan, China was alarmed by the USA’s role in the Vietnam War. From the early 1960s onwards, the US sent troops and supplies to help the anti-Communist South Vietnamese fight the Communist North Vietnamese and Communist Vietcong guerrilas. With US bombers dropping miles only miles from the Chinese border, relations with the USA were bound to be poor.
IN the late 1960s, as the uS began to withdraw their army from Vietnam. Talks began between US and Chinese governments led to big improvements in their relations. Even more promising the UN accepted the PRC as a member and expelled Taiwan from its Security Council. Following a visit to Beijin by President Richard Nixon in 1972, trade and cultural links were established. In 1979, the US gave full diplomatic recognition to the PRC and a visit to Washington by Deng Xiaoping cemented the new agreement.

7. CHINA’S SOUTHERN NEIGHBORS
1959 Tibetan Revolt Crushed - Dalai Lama Flees to India
Conflict with India - War Breaks Out in 1962
Chinese forces invaded and occupied Tibet in In 1959 the Tibetans rebelled against Chinese rule. After heavy fighting Chinese troops crushed the rebellion and forced the Dalai Lama to flee to India. Over the next few years around 9000 Tibetans followed the Dalai Lama into exile, leaving their country to be run as a Chinese province until 1965 when it became an autonomous region within the People’s Republic, theoretically running its own affairs.
The Tibetan issue led to a conflict between China and India. The Indian government was friendly toward China for much of the 1950s, but the events in Tibet made the Indians fear China’s intentions. In 1962 fighting broke out between the two countries along their eastern and western borders after a dispute over the ownership of the North-East Frontier Agency and Aksai Chin. The Chinese easily beat the Indian forces and although they withdrew from the NEFA, they have remained in Aksai Chin ever since.

8. PEACE WITH NEIGHBOURS 1962 - 1979 Peace with Neighbors
Richard Nixon visits China.
1979 Chinese Dispute with Vietnam Turns into War
Aim of War to Stop USSR Influence
From 1962 to 1979, China was at peace with its southern neighbors. But in 1979 a dispute with Vietnam, now a communist nation, turned into full scale war. A year earlier the Vietnamese government signed a treaty with the USSR, China’s enemy. When the Vietnamese increased their influence in Southeast Asia by marching into Laos and Cambodia, China invaded Vietnam at the start of The aim was to stop this ally of the USSR from gaining power in the south of China. After inflicting considerable damage on Vietnam, the Chinese withdrew in March 1979.