Sino-American relations, 1945-1950, with emphasis on the outcome of China's entry to the Korean War

This dissertation examines Sino-American relations from 1945 to 1950. It analyzes the evolution of American policy towards Asia at a time when the crises in China and then finally Korea steered the United States to apply the "Containment" policy in East Asia and made Japan an increasingly important partner of the United States in the context of a global Cold War. In this period of the Chinese Civil War and the U.S. occupation of Japan, American foreign policy towards East Asia focused on Japan. China policy became subsidiary to Washington's intended purpose to make Japan the counterbalance to the Soviet expansion in this region. This study also assesses how American relations with the Chinese Communist Party eventually affected China's decision to enter the Korean war, and thus exerted unexpected influence on trilateral relationships of the U.S., China, and Japan.; Peace and independence were the desire of East Asian nation after WWII. However, from 1945-1950, ideological rhetoric, vague perceptions, misunderstandings, self-interests, and the wishful thinking of the Communists and Nationalists in China, the Soviet Union, as well as the United States prevented the establishment of a cooperative East Asia. During the Chinese Civil War from 1945-1949, the CCP believed that the U.S. had supported the KMT against them, convincing the CCP that America was the enemy.; The subsequent Korean War turned East Asia into a fiercely contested front of the Cold War. China's decision to enter the Korean War, despite a strong opposition within the decision-making Beijing Politburo, was based mainly upon national security and the negative perception of America that the CCP had acquired during the Civil War. It was meant to guard against a perceived American military advance through Korea as Japan had done 56 years earlier. The entry of China into the war put it into direct confrontation with the U.S. and catalyzed American policy into helping Japan build a military defense force. This precluded Sino-Japanese economic and trade relations, excluded China from the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and compelled Japan to recognize Taiwan, thus drawing Japan into the Cold War against the People's Republic of China. The results destroyed the Chinese Communist hopes of earlier years.