Isolating the enemy : diplomatic strategy in China and the United States, 1953-1956 / Tao Wang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wang, Tao (Diplomatic historian), author.

Series:

Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Foreign relations--China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 318 pages) : illustrations, maps

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Columbia University Press, [2021]

Summary:

In the crucial moment after the Korean War, the United States and the People’s Republic of China circled each other warily. They shifted between confrontation and conciliation, ratcheting up tension yet also embarking on peace initiatives.Tao Wang offers a new account of Sino–American relations in the mid-1950s that situates the two great powers in their international context. He reveals how both the United States and China adopted a policy of attempting to isolate their adversary and explores how Chinese and American leaders perceived and reacted to each other’s strategies. Although the policy of the Eisenhower administration was to contain China, Washington often overestimated Chinese aggressiveness, worrying allies and neutral states. Sensitive to the differences within the Western camp, Chinese leaders sought to convince American allies to persuade the United States to back down. Wang analyzes diplomatic maneuvering over a peace settlement in Indochina, an American defense pact with Taiwan, and the anticolonial Bandung Conference, showing how political pressure pushed American leaders to make concessions. He challenges the portrayal of Communist states as driven by ideology, showing that Chinese leaders adopted a pragmatic policy during these crucial years.Drawing on Chinese, Taiwanese, Russian, Vietnamese, British, and American archival material, including reclassified Chinese Foreign Ministry documents, Isolating the Enemy offers new insight into Chinese diplomacy in the 1950s and U.S. foreign policy under the Eisenhower administration through a nuanced portrayal of Sino–American interactions.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

Prologue

Introduction

PART I: Geneva Conference

Chapter One Neutralizing Indochina

Chapter Two Between the Unattainable and the Unacceptable

PART II: Taiwan Strait Crisis

Chapter Three Preventing the Mutual Defense Treaty

Chapter Four “A Horrible Dilemma”

PART III: Bandung Conference

Chapter Five Formulating a Zone of Peace

Chapter Six A Blessing in Disguise?

Conclusion: The Ambassadorial Talks

Epilogue

Appendix COUNTRIES THAT ESTABLISHED DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH THE PRC BY 1957

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-231-55251-3

OCLC:

1269268803