China and U.S. Policy

The complex, multifaceted U.S. policies toward the People's Republic of China (PRC) implemented after Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in October 1949. Beginning with a policy of containment shortly after the CCP took power and shifting toward the establishment of limited diplomatic relations in 1972, the PRC currently enjoys most-favored-nation status with the United States, ensuring nondiscriminatory trade opportunities. The varied policies of the United States since 1949 may be attributed to U.S. support for regional allies and shifts in the global balance of power.

Policy of Containment (1949–1972)

Toward the end of World War II, the CCP attempted to build relations with the United States. However, as a result of America's resolutely anticommunist policies, Washington preferred to lend support to the pro-American Nationalist Party of Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek. When civil war erupted in China during the summer of 1946, the United States openly backed Chiang Kai-shek and eventually assisted his party supporters when they fled to Formosa (Taiwan) in December 1949 after the Communists took control of China.

The United States declined to recognize the communist government led by Mao Zedong as the legitimate government of the newly established People's Republic of China. Instead, it acknowledged Chiang Kai-shek as the leader of China. Historians and scholars refer to America's refusal to recognize the PRC after the Chinese civil war or to establish formal diplomatic relations with it as America's “lost chance” in China. The result of America's lost chance was the institution of a U.S. containment policy toward the PRC that lasted until 1972.

Soon after Chiang Kai-shek moved his government to Taiwan, the United States began lending military and economic support to Taiwan in an effort to contain mainland China. In 1950, President Harry S. Truman sent the Seventh Fleet to patrol the Taiwan Strait and thwarted any plans that Mao had to invade Taiwan. By 1954, the United States and the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwanese China) had signed a mutual defense treaty. The treaty reinforced the United States' growing offshore ring of economic and military alliances, which included Japan and South Korea. In addition, the United States blocked the PRC's entry into the UN Security Council and successfully petitioned for the ROC to take China's seat.

When war broke out in Korea in June 1950, the Western powers gained a UN mandate to carry out military action on the Korean peninsula. Mao was ready to fight the United States if it threatened the China–North Korea border. Before the war, Mao seemed prepared to accept a cease-fire along the 38th parallel. However, General Douglas MacArthur's landing at Inchon in September 1950 put U.S. troops in a position close to the Chinese border. Unofficial Chinese military volunteers poured over the border into North Korea to help the army of the Korean leader, Kim Il Sung, force back U.S troops and prevent a possible invasion of China. The U.S. forces were eventually pushed back 200 miles. Mao's military volunteers had successfully prevented the positioning of U.S. troops along the Chinese border. Their efforts helped to establish the PRC as a significant military power in the region. However, the conflict on the Korean peninsula and the surreptitious role of the Chinese military in the war eliminated any prospect of improving relations between the United States and the PRC.

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