The Response And Policy Research Of The US Anti - Communist And Anti - Democracy By The Chiang Kai - Shek Government (1953-1960)

In1949, Chiang Kai-shek government was defeated during the civil war and distressed moved to Taiwan. After that, Taiwan is headed by Chiang Kai-shek under the Kuomintang’s one-party rule until Chiang Kai-shek died in1975."Counter-attack on the mainland" is the "basic national policy" of the Chiang Kai-shek government. In order to achieve this goal, Chang Kai-shek implemented numerous anti-communist and anti-democratic actions, which cover all aspects of political, economic, and military. To echo with this, The United States had an abnormally intense domestic anti-communist atmosphere in the years1953-1960, and McCarthyism is extremely popular. The anti-communist domestic atmosphere impacted U.S. external policy. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in1949and the failure of the United States in the Korean War deepened United States’resentment upon Chinese government. Therefore the United States regarded China as the greatest threat in the Far East. Naturally,Chiang Kai-shek government became the ally of American "Free World". Hence the United States made different reaction to the anti-communist and anti-democratic actions taken by the Chiang Kai-shek Government to achieve its goal of containing China in the Far East. At present, this subject is lack of systematic research in academics. On the basis of the previous research, this paper systematically studies the U.S. reactions and policies to Chiang Kai-shek government’s anti-communist and anti-democratic actions in accordance with the American declassified documents, thereby to reveal that all the reactions and policies the United States took served for the basic objective of containing China in the Far East.This thesis consists of preamble and body part, of which the body part is divided into five parts.The preface introduces the studies of domestic and foreign scholars on this subject; and the preface also makes an overview of the topics and the research methods.The first part introduces the Cold War atmosphere of the United States, and U.S. Policy towards Taiwan during1953-1960. First, this section discusses the extreme anti-communist atmosphere of the United Sates in the context of Cold War. In the years of1953-1960, in order to curb the Chinese government and provide Taiwan with assistance,the United States formulated three national security policy documents aiming at Taiwan in the international situation of the Korean Armistice Agreement wassigned and the first crisis in the Taiwan Strait, which were NSC146/2, the NSC5503and NSC5723.The second section is mainly about the U.S reactions and policies to the anti-communist and anti-democratic actions of Chiang Kai-shek government. Chiang Kai-shek government implemented the White Terror politically, carrying out the K.C.Wu case, Sun Li-jen case, and Lei Chen case. While the United States just watched these develop without intervention. In order to develop the economy, Chiang Kai-shek implemented land form and Four Years Economic Development Plan. Under the guidance of the documents NSC146/2, NSC5429/5, NSC5506, NSC5723and NSC5913/1, the United States provided Taiwan with huge economic assistance. Although the United States extremely dissatisfied with the political work system in Kuomintang military, it still provided a huge amount of military assistance for Taiwan.The third part discusses the United States strongly opposed Chiang Kai-shek Government’s action against Chinese Government during the two crises in the Taiwan Strait. At the same time in order to keep the anti-communist base of Taiwan, the United States and Taiwan signed the "U.S.-Taiwan Mutual Defense Treaty", issued the "Joint Communique of the United States and Taiwan"; In order to avoid getting involved in the war, the United States and Chinese Government held talks at ambassadorial level on the Taiwan issue. In a word, the United States worked hard to contain China and to safeguard their own interests during the two crises in the Taiwan Strait.Part four briefly discusses the reactions of United States to the anti-communist activities of Chiang Kai-shek in foreign countries. The United States encouraged Chiang Kai-shek to develop "diplomatic relations" with other free countries in Asia. Particularly, the United States supported the anti-communist forces in the Southeast Asian overseas Chinese. However, in America, the anti-communist actions of overseas Chinese who support Kuomintang had not much affected the United States policy toward Taiwan. At the same time, the China Lobby in American Congress succeeded to maintain KMT’s seat in the United Nations until the1970s.Part five summarizes the characteristics and impacts of the U.S. response to the anti-communist and anti-democratic actions of Chiang Kai-shek. The United States actively supported the anti-Communist actions of the Chiang Kai-shek government, left unchecked its anti-democratic actions carried out. At the same time it strongly opposed to Chiang Kai-shek’s counterattack actions against the mainland. Above all, the reactions and policies are subject to U.S. national security interests. As a result, Taiwan’s economy had a rapid development and the alliance of the United States and Taiwan was maintained during1953-1960. But the peace talks between the United States and Chinese government hurt the morale of the Kuomintang government. From the different responses and reactions the United States Government made toward Chiang Kai-shek’s anti-communist and anti-democratic actions, we can draw a conclusion that in the years1953-1960, the real purpose of the United States is to curb the forces of the Chinese government to expand communism in the Far East. Chiang Kai-shek government is a pawn used by the United States to contain China rather than an ally of the United States in the Far East.