Korea and Taiwan locked China and the USA into two decades of hostility, non-recognition and trade embargo.
The Korean War made China and the USA direct enemies. American and Chinese troops fought each other for nearly three years.
Taiwan was the central issue. The USA protected the Nationalist government on Taiwan, signing a mutual defence treaty with it in 1954. During the Taiwan Strait crises of 1954-55 and 1958, China shelled offshore islands, and the USA threatened to use nuclear weapons.
The USA refused to recognise the People's Republic, kept China out of the UN, and imposed a trade embargo. It built alliances around China, including SEATO and treaties with Japan and South Korea.
To China, the USA was the leading imperialist power. Chinese support for North Vietnam in the 1960s kept the two countries on opposite sides. Ideology and security reinforced each other.
- US-Taiwan defence treaty
- 1954.
- Taiwan Strait crises
- 1954-55 and 1958.
- UN seat
- Held by Taiwan until 1971.
Worked example: Explaining hostility
Why were Sino-American relations so hostile from 1950 to 1969?
- Security: Korea and the Taiwan Strait crises.
- Ideology: China saw the USA as the leading imperialist; the USA saw China as a communist threat.
- Isolation: non-recognition, the UN seat and the embargo.
- Third parties: Vietnam kept them opposed.
Watch out for this
The USA and China were enemies only because of ideology.
Security, especially Taiwan and Korea, was at least as important. Hostility rested on concrete conflicts.
Check your understanding
Why was Taiwan the central issue in Sino-American relations?
- The USA protected the Nationalist government that China wanted to defeat.
- Taiwan was a Soviet base.
- China had promised Taiwan to the USA.