The Republican period in Mainland China continues to occupy a position of extreme importance in understanding both the subsequent rise of the People's Republic of China and the relationship between the United States and the PRC. Service, along with other diplomats working in China, predicted in the early 1940s that corruption and abuses of the populace by the Republican army, led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, would cause the Republican side to be unsuccessful in the event of a Chinese civil war. While history proved Service correct, the death of President Roosevelt led to the rise of President Truman, who decided to support the Republicans unilaterally in order to oppose the Stalin-led USSR, thus leading to a deep freeze on PRC-US relations.
For his part, due to his meetings with Chinese Communists in Yan'an as a part of his work in China, Service was accused of 'association with known Communists' during and forced out of his post at the US Foreign Service in 1951. While he successfully won all hearings in court and was eventually reinstated to the foreign service, he was unable to pass the security clearance process due to previous indiscretions and eventually found a job at the University of California at Berkeley in 1972. The book serves as a cautionary example of an individual being right, but not having the political power to protect their judgement. The example of the United States' continuing support of the Nationalists also shows the damage that an overreliance on Wilsonian idealism can cause if the process of vetting and auditing of the relationship with a foreign government becomes hijacked.
No comments:
Post a Comment