US-China Relations Ep 4. China's Century of Humiliation Part 3 : America's role

[00:00:05]For centuries to come, Chinese historians will ponder and reflect on what went wrong with China in the century of humiliation.

[00:00:14]One key question that they will surely ask is this. What was the role of the US in this century? Did the US join the European imperial powers in their brutal and savage campaigns against China? or did the US play a more benevolent role?

[00:00:30]If we want to understand the future cause of US China relations, we first have to understand the role that the US played in one of China's most painful centuries.

[00:00:41]There are no simple answers to the questions on the role of the US. On the one hand, it's clear that American military forces did not directly invade and occupy Chinese territory, although they did participate in some fighting on Chinese soil, particularly in helping to crush the Boxer Rebellion and theQing imperial forces that supported it in Beijing in 1901.

[00:01:07]So why was the US relatively restrained?

[00:01:10]Was it because the US was inclined to be more benevolent towards China? or was it because the US had other preoccupations during China's century of humiliation and the answer is a mix.

[00:01:23]China's century of humiliation lasted from 1840 to to 1949.

[00:01:29]During this period there were two key phases in US foreign policy. The pre-Ted Roosevelace and the post Teddy Rusevel face. In the pre-truuse phase, the US was focused on domestic challenges and its territorial expansion in North America. The Mexicanamean war from 1846 to 1848 took place in the decade of the Opium War. The American Civil War began in the year after the British and French forces sacked the Summer Palace in 1860.

[00:02:01]Given these preoccupations closer to home, the US didn't participate in the early western attacks on China.

[00:02:09]Ulysis S. Grant, president of the US from 1869 to 1877, was quoted as saying, "The time had now arrived when China should no longer summit as they had done to the interference of foreign powers and should assume control of their own commerce." However, despite the domestic preoccupations, America also made sure that it was not disadvantaged.

[00:02:34]As a result of European imperial expansion in China, the US insisted on the most favored nation principle.

[00:02:44]This meant that whatever territorial and trading concessions the Europeans acquired from China, the US would also benefit from them. Hence when the British and French acquired extr territorial rights in Shanghai in 1843, the US also claimed similar extr territorial rights. Indeed, the British and American settlements in Shanghai were merged in 1863 and became the Shanghai International Settlement.

[00:03:12]As the famous cyinologist John Farbank noted, quote, the American national policy was to participate in all the privileges of the treaty system. Since this was an international system backed by the British Navy, it did not require an American policy to support it. Except for the sporadic activity of a Cushing, a parry or a Harris, our political interests during most of the 19th century were already so well handled by the British that we could afford the luxury of thinking we had no political interests except the most favored nation clause." unquote.

[00:03:53]American foreign policy clearly became more muscular and imperialist after Teddy Roosevelt emerged as a key American leader. Even as assistant secretary of navy, Teddy Roosevelt said, "I should welcome almost any war for I think this country needs one." His ascent coincided with the launch of Japanese aggression against China from the first SinoJapanese war in 1895.

[00:04:24]In theory, the US took a neutral posture. However, Tri Xihi of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences notes in the SinoJapanese War of 1894 to 1895, the United States claimed to be neutral but was in fact pro-Japanese.

[00:04:43]Before the war, it repeatedly refused mediation requests by China and Korea and rejected Britain's joint mediation proposal while tacitly agreeing to or inciting Japan's launching a war. During the war, American diplomats as wartime protectors of both Japanese and Chinese nationals frequently went beyond the limits of international law to protect Japanese spies in China. It unilaterally convinced theQing government to accept Japan's aggressive demands so as to help Japan achieve its wars.

[00:05:25]The former foreign minister of Singapore, Mr. Giorgio has said that grave injustice was done to China after the first world war. She contributed over 100,000 workers many of whom died in Europe and in return for which she expected the return of German concessions in China in Chandu. But instead those concessions were given to Japan. The US was clearly complicit in this betrayal of China. There was another dimension to USChina relations in that century of humiliation.

[00:06:05]Many American missionaries migrated to China. Western merchants and diplomats found these missionaries useful because the missionaries were in the business of communication and were among the few Westerners who bothered to learn the difficult Chinese language.

[00:06:24]Missionaries served the Western community as interpreters for diplomatic and commercial negotiations and as an important source of news and information about China and the Chinese.

[00:06:38]The first American missionary to China was Elijah Coleman Bridgeman who arrived in Guangjo in 1830 and established a printing press for Christian literature.

[00:06:50]Significantly, Bridgeman took a moral position and opposed the Western efforts to export opium to China. However, despite his persistent opposition, most Western missionaries, including American missionaries, were associated with Western imperialism and opium. They became targets during the Boxer Rebellion, which was supported by the Empress Dedger. And when the foreign liation in Beijing was attacked in 1901, the United States Marines helped to defend this foreign legation. These United States troops then went on to sack Beijing as well as the Forbidden Palace. General Alfred Gazali, the commander of the British troops, recalled, and I quote, looting of the city, uncontrolled foraging in the surrounding country and seizure by soldiers of everything a China man might have as vegetables, eggs, chickens, sheep, cattle, etc. an indiscriminate and generally unprovoked shooting of Chinese. It is safe to say that where one real boxer has been killed since the capture of picking 50 harmless coolies and laborers including not a few women and children have been slain." unquote.

[00:08:16]Strikingly, even though US forces had participated in the sacking of Beijing in 1901, barely 15 years later, Mao Zidong predicted in 1916 when he was 23 years old then that American and Chinese forces would come together in the Pacific to fight the Japanese. We mentioned this in the previous video. Hence, even though most Americans wanted to remain neutral in response to the military expansion of Germany and Japan in the 1930s, the US inevitably drifted towards a collision with Germany and Japan. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 precipitated this. As a result, America and China became allies in World War II.

[00:09:08]It is vital to emphasize here that in the 1930s even while Japan had invaded China, China was also caught in a civil war within the anti-communist forces of Huang led by Chanka and the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zidong. The Western powers clearly sympathized with and supported Changa.

[00:09:34]However, Mao and the CCP also received some support from the US.

[00:09:41]Immediately after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, the civil war resumed between KMT and CCP. The US supported the KMT. However, the US also attempted to mediate between the KMT and CCP through the Marshall mission of 1945 to 47 to create a unified Chinese government. This marshall mission ended in failure. In the end, the CCP led by Mao won in 1949.

[00:10:10]The KMT forces led by Chanka retreated to Taiwan. Now, even though the CCP controlled over 90% of Chinese territory, the US continued to recognize the KMT government as the legitimate government of China and protected its seat in the United Nations. The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 is deemed by Chinese historians to mark the end of the century of humiliation.

[00:10:39]As Mao said on September 21st, 1949, quote, "The Chinese people comprising one quarter of humanity have now stood up. Ours will no longer be a nation subjected to insult and humiliation. We have stood up." unquote. It also marked the beginning of a new era in US China relations marked by three distinct phases. A period of hostility between 1949 and 1971, a period of partnership and deep engagement between 1971 and 1989, and finally a period of ambivalence after the end of the cold war. We will discuss these three phases in week two of this course after we first visit and understand the American century of triumph in the next two videos.