During WWII y did US military and dilomatic officials in China and vietnam?

Question

During WWII y did US military and dilomatic officials in China and vietnamfavor cooperation with the Chinese communists and the Vietminh? What did Americanshope to gain from wartime cooperation witht he CCP and Vietminh? what long term advantages did at least some Americans see in this cooperation? What did Mao and Ho hope to gain in the short rtun and long run from cooperating with the US?

Answer 1

Is this for a history paper?
During World War II, the US was fighting with the Communist Russians against Nazi Germany, but were the primary force fighting the Japanese. There was the hope that the Soviets would help the US fight the Japanese once Hitler had been knocked out of the war. The US was the primary power fighting the Japanese but the Chinese were the other nation that was fighting the Japanese. The Chinese at the time would not have been able to match up with the Japanese fire power.
Two things to remember. China, at the time, had been invaded by the Japanese and were trying to push Japan off the mainland. Vietnam, at the time, was a French colony and the US forces were allied with the French. The US position at the time was to defeat the Japanese, and that is why they would have allied with China and Vietnam. That is also why they allied with Communist Russia against Hitler, even though not even 20 years before they had tried to help overthrow their government. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Japan was trying to take over the entirety of East Asia and again, this is also why Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh would have allied with the US, to kick Japan out of their respective nations. The communist forces in Vietnam and China respectively had more support and power from their people than their "democratic" counterparts and the key to the US to defeat the Japanese was to ally with the more powerful force. If you are the "democratic" force in China and Vietnam are you going to go against the leading democracy in the war? No, you are going to go along and help with the hope that post war time, you can ally with them.
The short term goals for all three sides was to defeat Japan. The US position on Communism wasn't the same as we view it today. Even though the US had attempted to overthrow the Communist government in Russia, they enjoyed civil times with Russia because they had business ties. In the long term, I'm sure that the US envisioned winning over the nearly 1 billion Chinese so that they could create a business partner. Also, perhaps the US could win over the Chinese people so that later on they could help the "Democratic" forces of China regain control of the country. Who wouldn't support the force that helped push the hated Japanese back to their island? Ho Chi Minh, I imagine saw things differently. The US was allied with France, which Vietnam was a French colony at the time and it is quite possible that the US didn't see any long term positions in Vietnam, not seeing a Vietnamese uprising with France, or France not being able to maintain their colony. The US has always been enamored with powerful leaders regardless of whether they are "good" people or not, which explains why they have supported people such as Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. You know how that has turned out. My feeling is that regardless of whether or not Vietnam would have become independent, the US would have seeked positive relations. It wasn't until after WWII that nations really started to fall on the side of Communism and the US began the policy of Containment. The US was purely motivated by business and would have wanted to maintain peace with a reasonable leader, as Ho was viewed, in order to set up business. Ho Chi Minh, for his part, probably saw the US as a powerful ally that he should try to befriend in order to achieve his goals. Looking at the world of the day, he saw that two evil leaders of Germany and Japan were being fought by the US on the "ideal" of defending the innocent. The two opposing leaders in China and Vietnam, Chiang Kai-shek and Ngo Dinh Diem respectively, weren't exactly wonderful human beings, and it is easy for Ho Chi Minh to envision that the US, just as in WWII, would set aside its differences of political philosophy to help his side defeat the tyrannical opposition.

Well, thats the best short form answer I can give you. Good Luck.

Answer 2

We hoped to knock out the primary enemy then, the Japanse. The USSR was our ally and president Roosvelts biggest mistake was believing the myth of "uncle Joe". And don't knock it. FDR was probably dying slowly all of his fourth term. That affects anyone's judgement. In fact we were focused on Germany which was the real primary enemy. Ho Chi Minih could just as easily have been turned to a form of American Democracy. What happened was FDR died. Truman decided to support the old Imperial powers in the Far East. The British came in to restore order, left, and the French reooccupied beginning, the first Indochina war. In China Mao was flush with American supplied weapons from WWII, so he went on the offensive and drove the Nationailsts into Tawain. China was a backwater to America in WWII. The main thrust in the Pacific was from the South and Central Pacific. The truth is most the islands we fought for are forgotten today. Putting a major Army in support of the Nationalist Chinese, with an armored Division and a minor air force could have driven the Japanese back to the coast in 1943 and put the home islands under constant bombardment. We would not have even needed the B-29. The B-24 and B-17 would have done fine. Using mediums like the B-25, B-26, A-20, and constant fighter sweeps would have wrecked any countries morale. Given that with the same kind of push we did from the Pacific, we would not only have defeated Japan, we could have defeated post war Communist expansion in the area. Mao hoped for guns, period. Ho hoped for some kind of compromise, where he could get the French to leave with American support. He actually would have signed some kind of deal, with all three. It never happened.The French poured back In to retake their colonly. With ours and British support, materially. Manpower there were a lot of Forigion Legion with short blonde hair, and tattoos like "Miene Heurt is Treue". So you got your first IndoChina war. The second is when we sent the Marines, and 1st airborne to save these folks from themselves. So you have a good idea how the Vietnam war started.

Answer 3

Ho Chi Minh was used to harass the Japanese in VietNam and to help rescue pilots when shot down, if possible.

The old "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". You left out the Soviet Union. We armed them too.

Ho wanted a VietNam free of the French. Not sure what Mao was thinking. At that time they were all focused on the Japanese.

Answer 4

The government is the own mob that is all I'm telling you. None of this will ever end. The world will end soon that is reality and accept it. I'm not being pessimistic, and being realistic. The senates, and judges are the ones that deal with all this crap going on. They know that they are the ones that have the power to do what is right. It's all about money. Same Sh__ with the taxes. It is all politics. The President wants to be Hitler that is hes goal. It is working unless we all stop it. One way to stop him is, don't vote for him on the next election. Or our world and our kids will be screwed. Everything that the bible has said is happening. This is reality folks WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!

Answer 5

For the same reason the US and the UK partnered with Communist Russia --- The Imperial Japanese and the German National Socialists were simply a huge, direct, immediate, and common threat all concerned.

It's called political expediency.

Answer 6

There were these slightly unpleasant people called the "Japanese" who were busy murdering and raping their way through that part of the world. Perhaps you missed out?

Answer 7

the enemy of my enemy is my friend, simple as that...this is also why we partnered with the soviets in WWII