The Chinese Decision to Enter the Korean War Essay

The Chinese Decision to Enter the Korean War - Essay Example China's intervention in Korea cannot be ascribed simply to wanting to maintain the semblance of balance of power, "a theory of state behavior [that] explains and predicts how states respond to threats posed by a potentially dominant, revisionist and aggressive state"1, based on the assumption that states seek to, "maximize their power in order to survive in a competitive international system".2 US presence in the Asian region led to China and the US pursuing purely security related strategies that were mutually exclusive, inadvertently generating mutual hostility. Similarly, Chinese responses cannot be generalized into the Chinese merely wanting to secure their national interests without taking into consideration many other factors such as leadership challenges, domestic imperatives, and political consensus amongst domestic bureaucracies that can impinge upon foreign policy. The general understanding and belief is that China's foreign policy has been shaped primarily by external stimulus with domestic factors playing only a marginal role. However, the inability of existing theories to fully explain the reasons for China's entry into the conflict signifies that we must look at explanations that go beyond functional concepts of International Relations but also look more closely at internal factors and domestic compulsions. Students of international relations a... This is particularly relevant in the context of the Korean War, when one recollects that China was then emerging from the throes of a protracted civil war and that the People's Republic of China had been formally declared less than a year earlier, in October 1949. When the internal polity of a country is in a state of flux, any government which is seen as defending a nation's interests will only emerge stronger. China's entry into the Korean conflict can therefore, largely be seen to emanate as a result of the CCP converting a external 'threat' into an opportunity to consolidate its position internally. Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 and remained under Japanese occupation until the end of World War II. In August 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States decided to oversee the surrender of Japanese forces to the North and South of the 38th parallel respectively. This was to be a temporary arrangement, with a united Korea the ultimate aim. In the interim, the US and the Soviet Union established governments in their respective zones that were sympathetic to their political ideologies. The US installed Syngman Lee in South Korea, while the Soviet Union backed North Korea Kim Il-Sung, with both wanting a unified Korea, under their own system and stewardship. However, North Korea was bolstered by Soviet advisors and military equipment was better prepared to seize the initiative. The North Korean attack across the 38th Parallel in June 1950 was a resounding success North Korea could not capitalize on their gains. North Korea failed to accomplish two crucial tasks, namely the total annihilation of the South Korean army and the

Was the Cultural Revolution 'Mao's Revolution' Essay

Was the Cultural Revolution 'Mao's Revolution' - Essay Example This revolution has been named sometimes as Mao’s Revolution owing to the fact that Mao Zedong was the initiator of this revolution and ruled the country through this period (Macfarquhar & Schoenhals 2006). The Cultural Revolution is correctly referred to as the Mao’s Revolution because it was Zedong who started this revolution and he used his tactics to commence this revolution to attain back his power and strength in the Chinese Communist Party. Mao rose to power mainly following the Second World War. He headed the Chinese Communist Party and he was a strict follower of Communism. Zedong was the one who declared the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The failure of the Great Leap Forward which was a program put forward by Zedong persuaded him to come up with a better strategy to make his stand more powerful in the party. The Great Leap Forward was a step to improve the agricultural and industrial sector of China but it had rather produced a ne gative result by leading to famine and the loss of many lives. Losses were also faced in both the industrial and agricultural sector. This produced a setback in the political career of Zedong. Liu Shaoqi and his lieutenant Deng Xiaoping were given greater importance in the party and this pushed Mao to come up with a new strategy which was the Cultural Revolution (Meisner 1999; Spence 1999). Mao Zedong was of the belief that the Chinese Communist Party had lost its original essence and its principles had been contaminated with the capitalist thoughts and acts. This was another factor which led him to push for the Cultural Revolution. Mao also argued that the society was also losing the communist path and capitalism had started to build its roots in the Chinese Society. He argued that the rich people were living their expensive lifestyles at the expense of the hard work of the poor farmers. He was of the opinion that China was moving back to its class system and thus he assessed that he had to target the younger generation for the commencement of this revolution. Mao believed that the younger generation had not been infiltrated with the capitalist thoughts and manipulation of their thinking in favor of communism would result in bringing about a change and a revolution. This led to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution by the youth in the year 1966. This revolution was thoroughly based on the thoughts and the opinions of Zedong. His personal, as well as political motives, convinced him to start this revolution and thus, it is correctly known as Mao’s Revolution (Meisner 1999; Spence 1999). The students formed groups in the year 1966 beginning from the Beijing University. They were referred to as the Red Guards. They asked for Mao’s signal and when he approved they started functioning on the national level. Millions of supporters joined the Red Guards and their main aim was to teach politicians as well as the other people to let go of capitalist p olicies. In 1966, a mass approval and supporting for Mao was shown in Beijing. This really explained a very important fact that this revolution was more about Mao and his opinions and not about what the Chinese Communist Party considered as a whole. It was initially believed that the functioning of the Red Guards would stay peaceful but this route was not followed for long.