The Origins Of The Korean War And China’s Engagement In Neorealist Theory And Historical Studies

The Korean War has often been called a forgotten war in the west. For Chinesepeople, however, it is not the case. We are so familiar with “the war to resist U.S.aggression and aid Korea” and most of us even remember the lyric of the song thatstirred up the morale of Chinese soldiers during the arduous time. Yet, what interestsme most are the reasons why the war broke out, why the United States was so eager tointervene, and why China engaged itself in a war so soon after the founding of a newcountry that still had a weak economic foundation and unfulfilled domestic politicaltasks to accomplish, what the influence of the war is, especially on China, the UnitedStates, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Soviet Union and thestructure of Northeast Asia, and at last whether there is any possibility of “the secondKorean War” and what measures China should take to prevent the war. The thesisintends to apply neo-realism principally based on Kenneth N. Waltz’s theory andhistorical methods to analyze the origins of the Korean War, which has seldom beenconducted by IR specialists or historians. By using the two different but sometimessimilar methodologies to analyze the war China and the United States virtually neverdeclared against each other, it is hoped that the questions mentioned above can beexplained as clearly and thoroughly as possible.