Chinese Civil War
Please read the following statements and quotes by Chiang Kai-Shek (Nationalists) and answer the questions on the civil war worksheet.
Chiang Kai-Shek - Nationalist, Republic of China
Chiang Kai-Shek (Jiang Jieshi) was the Nationalist leader of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Republic of China. Chiang used the Truman Doctrine as a way to seek help from the United States. Since Mao and the Communists were seen as a minority trying to force a certain way of life on people, the US was anxious to assist the Nationalists in China.
The following is a speech from Chiang Kai-Shek:
The KMT is the historical party of national revolution; it overthrew the Manchu dynasty; it destroyed Yuan Shih-kai who would be emperor; it utterly defeated the militarists (warlords) that succeeded Yuan Shih-kai, it brought about national unification; it achieved the removal of the unequal treaties; and it led the country into the eight-year-old struggle against Japan. It is we who are the party of liberation and progress.
We must emerge from this war a united nation. Only a united nation can effectively perform the tasks of political and economic reconstruction to raise the lot of our toiling masses and handle the problems of external relations in a new, uncharted world. Before the Japanese invasion, we were a united nation. Today, but for the Communists and their armed forces, we are a united nation.
As you know, negotiations with the Communists have been a perennial problem for many years. It has been our unvarying experience that no sooner is a demand met that new demands are raised. The latest demand of the Communists is that the Government should liquidate KMT rule, and surrender all power to a coalition of various parties.
We have even offered to include the Communists and other parties in an organ to be established along the line of what is known abroad as a "war cabinet." To go beyond this and to yield to the Communist demand would not only place the Government in a bad situation but it also would degrade the political program of Dr. Yatsen. This will create insurmountable practical difficulties for the country.
The Communists have made use of the negotiations to launch a whirlwind campaign of publicity, both at home and abroad, defamatory and untruthful statements of the Government and the Kuomintang. At the very moment that the delegates were sitting down to the conference, ridiculous charges were made that the Government was conducting negotiations with the Japanese. I consider it beneath my dignity as head of the state to answer these base charges.
Because of the reasons I just states, I do not need to answer my critics. I have explained the Government's position on the Communist problem at length, because today that is the main problem to unity and a constitutional government.
By summoning the National Assembly and we will return the rule to the people. This is in conformity with the sacred will of Dr. Sun Yatsen, the KMT is performing its historical role. Dr. Yatsen began the KMT to end a one-rule empire. We shall never let his dream die.