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COLD WAR: 1945-49

During China's war with Japan, Chiang Kai-shek had moved his forces deep into the interior, leaving a political vacuum in the east to be filled by the Communists. And Communist forces confronted the enemy, the Japanese, beginning with the "Hundred Regiments Campaign" in North China in 1940, led by Peng Dehuai. When the war ended in 1945 the Communists had (according to Wei) had about 2 million men in militia units and more than 900,000 regular troops. [note]

In 1946, President Truman sent George Marshall to China to prevent a civil war between Chiang Kai-shek's forces and the forces led politically by Mao Zedong. The Truman administration was hoping that the Communists would accept Chiang's authority and that Chiang would allow them their rights to participate in elections, as Communists were in France and Italy for example. The Truman administration was hoping for a democratic China, but it did not work out that way. Talks between the two sides in 1946 broke down, and civil war erupted.

The communists were appealing to poor peasants -- China's majority -- and to students, workers and others looking forward to change. Chiang Kai-shek's government was seen as a "landlord's government." At the end of the war it had lost prestige by using Japanese forces and Chinese troops that had been on the side of the Japanese and by cracking down on a student peace movement. By late 1948, Chiang's troops were suffering from demoralization and lack of discipline. People in Chiang's China were suffering from rising prices because of inflation. And corruption was siphoning off aide from the United States.

Chiang's forces had taken over Manchuria following the Soviet Union's occupation there, but they had been unable to hold it. Communist forces pushed Chiang's forces out of  Manchuria. Communist forces were using weapons taken from the Japanese, and they were capturing an abundance of U.S. weaponry from Chiang's forces. In 1948, Communists won numerous urban areas north of the Yangzi River. By August Chiang's currency had inflated to 67 times what it had been in January. In December, Communist forces moved into Beijing unopposed, and by then they had advanced south to the Yangzi River. By February 1949 Chiang's currency had inflated 32,000 times.

In the U.S., a few Chiang supporters hoped for U.S. intervention to stop the Communists at the Yangzi. The Communists had no navy. Crossing the river heavily defended on its southern banks could be difficult. Stalin advised Mao and his associates not cross the Yangzi. The U.S. continued to send aid to Chiang, including air transport for Chiang's troops. The U.S. had given Chiang two billion dollars in military aid since 1945, but it  was unwilling and unprepared to send troops to prevent the Communists from crossing the Yangzi. In the summer of 1949, the Communist forces swept across the river. And as Chiang's forces began their flight to Taiwan, they rounded up and executed those they saw as enemies.

In Beijing, on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedung announced the founding of the People's Republic of China. In December, he traveled to Moscow. Against the possibility of an attack by what he called "the imperialist countries," he and his associates wished to align China with the "socialist countries." [note] Mao had discussions with Stalin, and Stalin was friendly and congratulated Mao and the Chinese. But Mao was reserved.  Back in 1945, Stalin had signed a treaty with Chiang in 1945, had advised Mao that the time was not ripe for revolution and had given the communist movement in China little assistance. That Stalin did not now apologize for past wrongs Mao took as a sign that he wished to view China as a "little brother." Nevertheless, on February 14, 1950, the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union signed a Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, the Soviet Union promising to help China in its reconstruction.

In the United States people were asking who lost China. Chiang, a Christian, was liked in the United States. Henry Luce, publisher of Time Magazine was especially close to Chiang. The view among many in the U.S. was that the Chinese Revolution was an extension of the Soviet Union's power and will. The State Department's Dean Rusk described the Chinese Revolution not as Chinese but as made in Moscow. Purges were now to begin of people in the State Department who saw things differently. To many in the United States it appeared that communism was on a successful march and that if something were not done the Communists would engulf the world.

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Copyright © 2001 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.