THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRUMAN'S CHINA POLICY

Harry S Truman became president of the United States in April 1945. The Communists led by Mao Tse-tung gained control of China in 1949. The American foreign policy recognizing two Chinas subsequent to the success of the Communist Revolution in mainland China came to be identified with President Truman who remained in office until January 1953.

The "Two-Chinas" policy, however, did not occur in an historical vacuum. Events that contributed to the development of the policy began far earlier than 1949, and the policy was refined in response to events occurring subsequent to the accession to power of the Chinese Communists. The development of "Two-Chinas" policy was influenced by the conflicts between China and Japan prior to the Second World War, by the war between Japan and the United States in the Pacific arena, by the Communist Revolution in China, by the long-standing fear of and opposition to Communism in the United States, by domestic political squabbles in the United States, by the actions of the Soviet Union in Korea prior to 1949, and by the actions of government of the People's Republic of China in Korea subsequent to 1949.

The Communist Revolution in China in the last-half of the 1940s created a new country--the People's Republic of China. This new country eventually assumed the status of a major world power. The defeat of the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, however, created a political fire st

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nnel in China during the period of the war fueled American concerns over the potential of a Communist controlled China (Eastman, 1984, pp. 203-215). Thus, this period marked the beginning of an American foreign policy toward China that was willing to accept the Nationalist government regardless of its levels of corruption in preference to a Communist government. China, thus, was being drawn into the Cold War before that war even began (Chern, 1976, pp. 631-647). Even during this period, however, many American officials warned against relying too greatly on the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek (Cohen, pp. 178-179). Beisner (1991, pp. 116-121) contended that most American historians and most American policy makers have never realistically appraised the faultiness of the near unqualified support given to the Nationalist government by the United States during and immediately after the Second World War. Other writers, however, continue to support the American foreign policy developed toward China during the Second World War (Wilson, 1973, pp. 811-830). Communist strength among the Chinese masses was consistently underestimated by United States foreign relations personnel (Rinn-Sup & Worden, 1988, pp. 31-41; Mosley, 196
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Approximate Word count = 6231
Approximate Pages = 25 (250 words per page)