(April 22, 2017 at 8:25 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:(April 22, 2017 at 5:15 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: I know the US created the problem in NK to begin with. Mcarthy went too close to China but why is it anything to do with you now?
Can you explain this? The first claim seems a little overwrought, if not entirely false, and the second entirely unclear.
MacArthur getting close to China had nothing to do with the creation of North Korea.
MacArthur getting close to china turned china from a fence sitter in the US Soviet confrontation into an active combatant on the soviet side. The Chinese then intervened militarily in the Korean War, drove UN forces out of North Korea, and preserved North Korea. So MacArthur's approach to china created the circumstances which allowed North Korea to survive to the present day.
The relationship between the Soviet Union, the two sides in the Chinese civil war and the US from WWII to just after the start of the Korean War was very complex and nuanced. It might be surprising but through the 1930s, the Soviet Union supported the nationalists against the Mao's communists because Stalin judged the Chinese nationalists were more effective in tying down Japan and preventing Japan from turning against the Soviet Union in the case of a war in Europe. So there was no love lost between mao's communists and stalin's Soviet Union. At the end of WWII, the professional diplomats in the US were well aware of that, and the US had been grossly disappointed by the corruption and warlordism of the Chinese nationalists during the war. So a strong body of opinion argued the US should abandon the nationalists, and instead nurture mao's communists who, in the estimate of the state department, would actually form a stronger bulwark against soviet expansion in east Asia. This didn't come to pass partly because the public opinion in the US turn away from realpolitik to more right wing ideological anti-communism, and gradually lost the ability to distinguish the separate interests of different fractions of communists, and partly because the Chinese communists were suspicious of US intentions and resentful of US military support for the nationalists.
When the communists seized power in china in 1949, fractions in the US state department made a concerted effort to open lines of communication with Mao. Mao attempted to steer a course independent of the Soviet Union. When the current Kim's grand father, Kim Il Sung, approached mao for support to invade South Korea and unify Korea under his own rule, Mao refused, and saw no reason to sponsor an action that would ntagonize the US. Kim then approached Stalin. Stalin saw the in North Korean attack on the south and the inevitable US retribution an opportunity to force Mao's to abandon his more independent course and fall into the Soviet camp.
When North Korea attacked South Korea, china initially offered no support. The support come exclusively from Soviet Union. When UN forces retook South Korea the Chinese made to adverse statements. But when UN forces occupied much of North Korea, Mao warned through diplomatic channels that UN forces should stay away from Chinese border or risk a Chinese intervention. At this time McCarthyism was in full swing in the US and no one listened. McArthur ordered UN forces to right up to the Chinese border. However, MacArthur, incredibly, made no preparation whatsoever to deal with any possible Chinese military intervention.
just before the UN forces actually got to the border, the Chinese intervened as they said they would. Unprepared UN forces under MacArthur were totally routed and driven out of North Korea, to a stalemate line t the 38th parallel.
This is why North Korea remain in existence today to test nukes and develop ICBMs that can hit california before trump's term is up.
