Globalizing the U.S. Presidency by Cyrus Schayegh

Author:Cyrus Schayegh [Schayegh, Cyrus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781350134690
Google: _52CzQEACAAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2020-01-15T01:13:11+00:00

Part III

Appropriation, Cont’d: Antagonisms and Contestations

9

Watching, Countering, and Emulating Peaceful Evolution: PRC Responses to Kennedy Administration Cultural Diplomacy and Global Strategy

Matthew D. Johnson

The years of US president John F. Kennedy’s administration loom large in the history of the People’s Republic of China, though not for reasons which are linked to Kennedy or his policies. These were the years of post-Great Leap Famine retrenchment and ongoing economic crisis during which institutions were downsized and urban populations systematically reduced. Ideological and strategic rivalry between the PRC and Soviet Union—the Sino-Soviet split—intensified and spilled into the open. Mao Zedong, politically weakened, was temporarily overshadowed by presumed successor Liu Shaoqi, and other more seasoned leaders, such as Zhou Enlai, stepped to the fore as figures of stability and prudence. Despite severe domestic setbacks, PRC influence in Africa and Asia seemed to grow, creating anxiety and concern in Washington.1

Relations between the United States and PRC were deeply strained during this period, not just because of competition within the Third World. PRC leaders sought to expand their sphere of influence within the intermediate zone of countries between the socialist camp and capitalist-imperialist West.2 This grand strategy of maintaining sovereignty while expanding international power and standing created complex challenges. Starting on August 23, 1958, People’s Liberation Army units in Fujian shelled the Jinmen (Quemoy) islands continuously over six weeks, a challenge to America’s policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek’s government on Taiwan and possibly a test of the Soviet Union’s commitment to “revolutionary” struggle against an international status quo which reflected American power. The US response was to intensify commitment in Asia, not just across the Taiwan Strait (for instance the US-Taiwan Mutual Defense Treaty) but also in Vietnam and vis-à-vis Tibet.3 On the PRC side, perceptions that the strategic environment was deteriorating significantly led to a push for “new initiatives” and a new, pragmatic approach to diplomacy.4 USSR-PRC relations improved somewhat, tensions on the Sino-Indian border were defused, and Beijing sought peaceful resolutions to border disputes and proxy conflicts involving Asian neighbors.

Scholarship of the past decade has begun to highlight how the Cold War-era contest between the United States and PRC was played out in the realms of propaganda and psychological influence as well as diplomacy and military affairs. The “battle for hearts and minds” in Asia, and indeed around the world, began during the 1950s—though in actuality the Chinese Communist Party had been at war in this way with the American government far earlier—and continued into the 1960s.5 This point strengthens another key theme concerning US policy toward China during the Kennedy years: Kennedy, like previous US presidents, was preoccupied by the PRC’s growing role in Asia and understood the US-PRC rivalry as a contest between distinct militaries and developmental-ideological models.6 Another notable point at which the US and PRC policy narratives converge is in shared assessments of the significance of Africa and Asia as zones of rivalry, particularly with respect to postcolonial “emerging countries.”

In addition, Mao’s perception of the United States during the Kennedy years

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