Mao's China and the Cold War

by Chen, Jian; Jian, Chen

• ISBN13: 9780807849323
• ISBN10: 0807849324
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

This comprehensive study of China's Cold War experience reveals the crucial role Beijing played in shaping the orientation of the global Cold War and the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. The success of China's Communist revolution in 1949 set the stage, Chen says. The Korean War, the Taiwan Strait crises, and the Vietnam War--all of which involved China as a central actor--represented the only major "hot" conflicts during the Cold War period, making East Asia the main battlefield of the Cold War, while creating conditions to prevent the two superpowers from engaging in a direct military showdown. Beijing's split with Moscow and rapprochement with Washington fundamentally transformed the international balance of power, argues Chen, eventually leading to the end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the decline of international communism. Based on sources that include recently declassified Chinese documents, the book offers pathbreaking insights into the course and outcome of the Cold War.

Author Biography

Chen Jian is C. K. Yen Professor of Chinese-American Relations at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, Professor of History at the University of Virginia, and Zijiang Visiting Professor at East China Normal University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	I
The Chinese Civil War and the Rise of the Cold War in East Asia, 1945-1946	17	(21)
The Myth of America's Lost Chance in China	38	(11)
Mao's Continuous Revolution and the Rise and Demise of the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1949-1963	49	(36)
China's Strategies to End the Korean War, 1950-1953	85	(33)
China and the First Indochina War, 1950-1954	118	(27)
Beijing and the Polish and Hungarian Crises of 1956	145	(18)
Beijing and the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1958	163	(42)
China's Involvement in the Vietnam War, 1964-1969	205	(33)
The Sino-American Rapprochement, 1969-1972	238	(39)
Epilogue The Legacies of China's Cold War Experience	277	(8)
Notes	285	(88)
Bibliographic Essay	373	(14)
Index	387