Posted on Aug 7, 2019
How did we end up in an adversarial conundrum with China?
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Didn't we come to China's aid when they were overrun by the Japanese? Haven't we traded successfully with them in mutually beneficial arrangements? Certainly, there have been problems, many born from our sense of cultural superiority, but these don't seem to affect our current relationship with the Chinese of Taiwan. I'm sure there are obvious, maybe even easy answers to my question that I'll discover with some modicum of research, but I'd welcome any head starts that anyone may offer. I feel there is a book lurking in this. My musings have been inspired by photographs that a good friend, Zhi Liu, has been sending back from his extended tour of China. He obviously has a good eye and more than a little skill with a camera. (These are a few of his most recent ones) However, we met when he was a computer programmer and systems analyst for IBM and I was an independent computer systems and applications architect, working together on a project in Los Angeles. Zhi is a native of Taiwan and hopefully he'll join us and share his thoughts on my question.
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
We mistakenly believed opening China's economy would drive a more tolerating ideology. Instead, it gave impetus to their ideology of imperialism around the region.
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SP5 Dennis Loberger
We frequently assume that nations will react as we would rather than looking at history and culture as determinants in what to expect
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CPT Jack Durish
To be fair, Nixon opened relations with the Chinese to drive a wedge between them and the Soviets
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We came to the aid of Nationalist China, not the Communist insurgents under Mao. Not long before that, the US and other western powers had colonies all over China, and fought a nasty little war with them, the Boxer War.
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CPT Jack Durish
I'm not sure the Flying Tigers were protecting only Chinese Nationalist interests. They were shooting down Japanese warplanes regardless of their targets. As for our "colonies" in China, the US had only one "concession" that it never occupied...
Tientsin U.S. Concession
24 Oct 1860 United States granted the right to have a concession in Tientsin
by Treaty of Tientsin, a formal concession not established.
1871 U.S. consulate established in Tientsin (a formal concession
never materializes, although the U.S. consulate exercises some
jurisdiction over the area).
12 Oct 1880 Relegated to an uncertain status while the U.S. retained a right
in principle to take over the concession in the future.
Jun 1896 U.S. government renounces all jurisdiction over the 'concession.'
16 Aug 1900 - 1902 U.S. occupies the area following the Boxer Rebellion. Plans
for the establishment of a concession are soon canceled.
1901 Sanitary and police control handed over to the British Concession.
Nov 1902 Formally annexed to British Concession as its "Southern Extension."
As for US participation in the Boxer Revolution, that seems a footnote in history
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/winter/boxer-rebellion-1.html
Tientsin U.S. Concession
24 Oct 1860 United States granted the right to have a concession in Tientsin
by Treaty of Tientsin, a formal concession not established.
1871 U.S. consulate established in Tientsin (a formal concession
never materializes, although the U.S. consulate exercises some
jurisdiction over the area).
12 Oct 1880 Relegated to an uncertain status while the U.S. retained a right
in principle to take over the concession in the future.
Jun 1896 U.S. government renounces all jurisdiction over the 'concession.'
16 Aug 1900 - 1902 U.S. occupies the area following the Boxer Rebellion. Plans
for the establishment of a concession are soon canceled.
1901 Sanitary and police control handed over to the British Concession.
Nov 1902 Formally annexed to British Concession as its "Southern Extension."
As for US participation in the Boxer Revolution, that seems a footnote in history
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/winter/boxer-rebellion-1.html
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1SG (Join to see)
CPT Jack Durish - The Flying Tigers were based in Kunming and tasked to defend the Burma Road... well away from where the Communist forces were.
I don't think Mao ever got over our support for the Nationalist Government, which lasted into the 70's and indeed continues even today.
I don't think Mao ever got over our support for the Nationalist Government, which lasted into the 70's and indeed continues even today.
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CPT Jack Durish
Actually, we gave planes, weapons, and other equipment as well as ammo and supplies to both the Chinese nationalists and communists that they used against each other when WWII ended
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They have short memories on stuff like that, on other things it's like a steel trap.
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