War with China was Always the Goal: Part 1/5
Many Americans are being sold an ahistorical and shallow version of Chinese history, Chinese-US relations, and the like. It is only through corporate media amnesia that public opinion can be shaped so vapidly against 15% of the planet’s population in China. This, and a base ideological underpinning of settler white supremacy and capitalism doesn’t hurt. What is the current conflict brewing in the Taiwan-Strait about? Purely ‘cold, rational statecraft’? No. Microchips? Partially, but that doesn’t explain the full depth of animosity on both sides of the aisle, as well as in the public. What we are seeing is a congruence of several factors still highly active in US politics and fostered in its populace: anti-communism, US hegemonic ‘rules based’ order, and rising fascist elements internally. Additionally, the US’ absorption of Nazi Germany in order to rage a Cold War (class war) on socialism across the planet remains an unfinished project.
In a great counter-revolutionary blow, the US, as the vanguard of the global capitalist powers, was able to crush socialism in the USSR and Yugoslavia (among others), and almost toppled China as well with the Tiananmen Square revolt. Thankfully, this was unsuccessful, but NED and other NGOs continue to attempt to build and support counter-revolution against Beijing. In the absence of support left by the crumbling of the socialist block, China made major concessions to US capital, going through a period of ‘reform and opening up’, all under the watchful eye of the communist party. The US at the time thought that capitalism would do its thing, and communism in China would be overtaken by ‘free’ market ideology. However, they were wrong, and nothing proved that to them more than Xi’s ascendancy to the Presidency in 2013–2014. This is when you saw the faucet of anti-China hate turned on full blast, flooding out of the sink in a river of propaganda. If we are to really understand this push against China however, and how the province of Taiwan relates, we are going to have to go back quite a ways. I will attempt to break the US campaign against China into a few distinct phases, namely:
- Rising Communist China (1911–1949)
- Post Revolution, Cold War #1 China (1949–1991)
- Post-USSR China, Reform and Opening Up (1991–2001)
- War on Terror and the US Unipolar Moment (2001–2013)
- Pivot to Asia and New (Continued) Cold War (2013–2022)
One could definitely break these periods down further, and I know for certain people have. Checkout the Socialist Program’s 7hr breakdown of US foreign policy in relationship to China here for a more thorough look.
As the above photo makes clear, the US followed the 1949 revolution with direct involvement in the region of Taiwan. However, the campaign has been ongoing for much of the 20th century, at the very least.
Rising Communist China (1911–1949)
After the 1917 Russian revolution, the first socialist project was born. All progressive forces in the world were bolstered and invigorated by this qualitative rupture in world history. China especially began a process of revolutionary momentum building, spearheaded by Mao Zedong. Although the Chinese revolution of 1911 really kickstarted social upheaval in China, the US, at the time of China’s civil war went (1927–1949), supported the nationalist government against the soon to be PRC. The KMT had fought alongside the communists to kick Japanese imperialists out of the country, but the conflict turned inward in the hole left by the occupiers. So really, the Chinese Communist Party’s war with the Kuomintang (KMT) started in the 1920s, had a pause during the decade of anti-Japanese war and the WWII, then peaked in an immediate post-war period, with the remnants of the KMT fleeing to Formosa/Taiwan in 1949. This is the geopolitical origin story of Taiwan, and it is the basis from which separatism has grown in the region. It is, however still part of China.
“It was perfectly clear to us that if we told the Japanese to lay down their arms immediately and march to the seaboard, the entire country would be taken over by the Communists. We therefore had to take the unusual step of using the enemy as a garrison until we could airlift Chinese National troops to South China and send Marines to guard the seaports.” — President Truman
The US this entire time took positions (or non-positions) that put them in line with the KMT. During the war, the US strongly supported the Kuomintang forces. About 50,000 US soldiers were sent to guard strategic sites in Hebei and Shandong in Operation Beleaguer. The US equipped and trained KMT troops, and transported Japanese and Koreans back to help KMT forces to occupy liberated zones as well as to contain Communist-controlled areas. According to William Blum, American aid included substantial amounts of mostly surplus military supplies, and loans were made to the KMT. Within less than two years after the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had received $4.43 billion from the US — most of which was military aid.
Preview of Part 2: Post Revolution, Cold War #1 China (1949–1991)
After the KMT lost and retreated to Taiwan, the US prevented the CCP from finishing its revolution by deploying a Navy fleet (1950) to the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan would remain a military dictatorship until 1987 when martial law was finally lifted by Chiang Ching-kuo. This would begin Taiwan’s revisionism and capitalist holdout in China. Contrary to ruling dialogue, Taiwan does maintain some level of autonomy even today, to its detriment of course. They would benefit tremendously from bellying the US’ client state relationship and reunifying with the mainland.
Conclusion
This history is amazingly complicated, and if one could learn anything from this article, it would be just how inadequate the ‘pro-democracy’ narratives are in explaining the Taiwan crisis. It also should show you the historical roots for separatism, and how the US followed along the whole way.
In the 21st century, official US/NATO policy has been one of Great Power “Competition”, starting with Obama’s Pivot to Asia. While capitalist Russia is of course included, the US has been very clear that China is still enemy #1, as it has shown the world an alternative method of growth and development that embraces multilateral projects and win-win cooperation, instead of neo-colonialism, exploitation and war. It is absolutely essential that every anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and yes, every American understands the war drive we are being not-so-subtly conditioned to accept. It will only hurt the world and push us towards nuclear brinkmanship and another World War.
Thank you for reading, and feel free to comment or ask questions. Questions made in good faith will be responded to. Others may be ignored or deleted, as I see fit.
