Abstract
In early 1949, China was a nationalist country, ruled by Chiang Kai-shek and sustained by the United States. At the same time, the Chinese Communists were rebelling and ruling large parts of the country, and were constantly progressing. It was obvious that they were soon going to rule the country. As a result, the United States had to rethink its policy toward the Communists and the new regime. The victory of Chinese Communists over the Nationalists and the proclamation of the Republic of China in October 1949 shattered the vision the United States and its Western allies had had for post-war Asia. A Communist China in close proximity to US-occupied Japan, South Korea, newly independent India, the Philippines and war-torn French Indochina made the spread of communism into Asia seems to be another step in the USSR's post-war expansion like in Eastern Europe.
