The United Front policy in context : Vietnam - a case study in Chinese foreign policy

Liu, Kuo-hsing

Abstract

[From the Introduction]:

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has a communist and revolutionary government. The declaration of the PRC in October 1949, represented the victory of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), established in 1921, in its struggle against the Chinese Nationalists, the Kuo Min Tang (KMT). This victory seemed to prove that the CCP's strategy, based on a United Front policy, worked. The United Front policy was a manoeuvre by which the CCP united with lesser antagonists against a greater mutual enemy. During the period 1921 to 1949 a relatively weak CCP applied the United Front idea to form, when required, a temporary union even with its fundamental enemy, the KMT.

This occurred during the early and mid 1920s and the Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945, and was even attempted in the talks with the KMT after World War 11. The experience with the KMT gave the PRC more confidence in dealing with the outside world. The Korean War made the PRC realise the importance of the safety of its own border. After the Korean War, not surprisingly, the PRC began to use its experience of the United Front strategy in its dealings with international affairs. The selective application of United Front tactics led to PRC foreign policy successes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The PRC avoided the formidable hostility of the Soviet Union (SU) and played a significant role in the US-SU-PRC triangular relationship. Both domestically and internationally, the United Front strategy has been at the root of much of CCP-PRC policy.

It is the contention of this dissertation that the PRC has consistently employed a United Front strategy in its relations with the United States. It takes as its focus the period 1954 to 1973, with particular reference to the conflict in Vietnam. During this period, the comparatively weak PRC sought to accommodate itself to shifts in US Vietnam policy within the limits of its United Front strategy. The period of the US-North Vietnamese peace talks serves as a particularly useful "miniature," as it were, of this process and will be given special attention.

Citation

Liu, K.-H. (1999). The United Front policy in context : Vietnam - a case study in Chinese foreign policy. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4220773

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 16, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Keywords: Politics
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4220773
• Additional Information: Department of Politics, The University of Hull
• Award Date: Mar 1, 1999