How did Sino-American tension prior to 1951 trigger Chinese intervention during the Korean War?
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A – Plan of the Investigation
The Chinese intervention in the Korean War was game changing during the Cold War and pivotal to the North Korean victory. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, over 300,000 “Chinese People’s volunteers” were sent to the battlefield in Korea by the Peoples’ Liberation Army to fight for its communist ally. Its impact was immediately shown as the US troops were driven back beyond the 38th parallel. To determine how did Sino-American tension prior to 1951 trigger the Chinese intervention during the Korean War, the research of this assessment examines the rise of Mao and his ideology in Communist China, the prewar Sino-American tension, China and America’s stances towards the Korean War, and the threat from General MacArthur and USA that directly caused China to intervene.
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B – Summary of Evidence
Rise of Mao Zedong and his ideology
• After the Communists came to power, a division among the leadership occurred for China’s standpoint in the Cold War. Liu Shaoqi favoured the USSR and Zhou En-lai favoured the USA; Mao Zedong decided to lean towards the USSR.
• In June-August 1949, Liu, who represented Mao, had a secret meeting with Stalin in Moscow. They agreed on China’s primary duty would be the promotion of the “Eastern Revolution”, while the Soviet Union would remain the center of international proletarian revolution’.
• With severe opposition from the Western power, Mao’s China viewed the ‘norms of international relations’ were of Western origins and inimical to revolutionary China.
• Mao introduced the ‘intermediate zone’ theory during late 1940s. He claimed that China would act collaboratively with the ‘oppressed people in the ‘intermediate zone’ to prevent any persecution from the Western imperialist power. Mao emphasized China’s view of national independence and proclaimed its insistence