It is ironic that history will look back to 2020 as the beginning of the Cold War between China and the US and the UK.
Three countries that fought shoulder with shoulder against the Japanese invasion find themselves on opposite sides. The source of this intractable problem is the triumph of Mao over Chiang in the Chinese civil war.
The outcome was predictable. Stalin helped Mao.
Truman abandoned Chiang.
Nationalist leaders were upset that Truman ” was busily building up Japan, the former enemy, as a bastion against communism rather than China, its erstwhile ally…Premier Sun Ke told an American visitor.” You are fighting a cold war against communism throughout the world, yet in China, your policy appears aimed at hastening our government’s disintegration. ” (pages 18 and 266).
This 2021 book examines the pivotal year when Mao finally defeated Chiang. It is a story well narrated. Graham has quoted extensively from Chinese sources.
I wonder whether a better and visionary leader like FDR would have done better than Truman. WSC was a spent force by 1945 and thus inconsequential.