China's Civil War

Report Outline
Crisis Stage in the Civil War in China
The Kuomintang and the Chinese Communists
United States China Policy Since World War II
Russian Participation in Chinese Communism
Special Focus

Crisis Stage in the Civil War in China

Climactic battles in thed struggle for China are in progress around Suchow, 180 miles northwest of the Nationalist capital of Nanking. The Communists already control Manchuria and most of North China. The weakness of Nationalist forces seeking to check the Communist advance leaves the government of Chiang Kai-shek in a precarious position. This is a matter of grave concern to the Government of the United States, for it is an aim of American foreign policy to block Communist expansion in Asia as well as in Europe.

Possibilities open to the United States in its efforts to prevent Communist control of China have been limited by the fact that there has been no group within China able to command the support necessary to unite the country under non-Communist rule. Short of direct military intervention, of a kind the American people would not approve, the possibilities for effective action have depended primarily upon what the Chinese could do for themselves.

Notwithstanding American military and economic aid to the National Government during and since the war, the Communists have steadily expanded their strength until they now threaten to take control of the whole of China. The Chiang Kai-shek government has failed to provide the liberal leadership and reforms which could have countered the Communist appeal for support.