AFTER the temporary coup led by KMT generals Zhang and Yang against Chiang Kai Shek, the KMT – CPC cooperation was established for a second time.
Chiang was restored to President and soon after this he put General Zhang under house arrest and ordered the killing of General Yang.
These two generals are remembered as courageous and selfless heroes by the Chinese.
On July 7 1937 CE, the Japanese attacked the Chinese from the north under a false report of hearing gunfire, and a Japanese soldier going missing.
The Chinese fought bravely and managed to stop the Japanese from advancing further.
This deeply hurt the Chinese and led to a national outcry against the Japanese.
Volunteers to join the Chinese army increased and so did overseas Chinese participation in the war.
In September of 1937 CE, Chiang Kai Shek publicised the cooperation of the KMT – CPC parties and made the Red Army part of the Eight Route, which they called the United National Front (UNF).
The CPC military members quickly made a name for themselves when they were dispatched to the north, where Japan was advancing from.
Close to Beijing and along the Great Wall of China are several passes.
The most strategic of the passes was called Pingxing Pass and the Japanese were trying to take it over.
The UNF’s army, most of which were CPC members during this battle, managed to win the first outright Chinese victory over Japan since the beginning of the war.
Over 1 000 Japanese troops were killed after being ambushed.
100 vehicles and a lot of military equipment were seized by the Chinese army. Another victory worth mentioning was that of the Taierzhuang campaign in March of 1938 CE.
KMT-led troops successfully defended against 40 000 Japanese troops that were trying to take over Xuzhou, a large city next to Taierzhuang.
The battle went on for over two weeks and ended in China’s favour.
More than 10 000 Japanese soldiers were killed and more than 30 tanks were seized.
This became the single largest victory of China against Japan during the war.
From then on, the Japanese weakened until they eventually surrendered to the Americans after the nuclear bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
After the end of the war, Chiang Kai Shek began to make subtle offences against the CPC party, yet he was hypocritically claiming to be maintaining the policy of cooperation and peace with the communists.
Chiang’s hostility against the communists after the end of the Japanese threat was largely fuelled by the US.
The US tried to oust the communists through Chiang and the KMT.
Chiang’s saw this as an opportunity to consolidate power for himself and was in favour of the idea because the US was sponsoring him with weapons for his army and also finance.
Chiang’s hypocrisy became clear in August 1945 CE, when he called the CPC members to Chongqing to supposedly discuss domestic peace.
His plan was to attack the CPC members if they did not show up and place the war responsibility on the communists.
If the CPC was to attend, Chiang would demand that they completely surrender their armies and liberated areas to him, as a condition to keep the peace.
On August 28 1945 CE, the CPC members attended the conference and the negotiations took 43 days.
Both parties agreed on most of the principles they wished to adopt to rebuild China and keep domestic peace.
However, the CPC members were alarmed by Chiang’s demand for them to hand over CPC militants and liberated areas to him, for this would be in violation of the KMT – CPC cooperation.
But to keep the peace and for the sake of progress, the CPC members reduced their army divisions and gave up eight of their liberated territories.
At this point Chiang’s hypocrisy became clear and so were his selfish ambitions. As a result, Chiang lost political support drastically and all the Chinese nationals that were concerned not about personal power, but the welfare and rebuilding of the nation, became aligned to the CPC.
The KMT became politically isolated although they were stronger militarily and had their leader as president.
In June 1946 CE, Chiang attacked the CPC liberated areas that had not surrendered their armies and territory to him.
Chiang became the new enemy of the Chinese populous because all the people, civilians and soldiers fought against the US-backed KMT troops.
In the beginning of the war, Chiang had 4,3 million KMT forces and was in charge of China’s major cities, transportation and communication lines.
The CPC only had 1,27 million troops on their side.
By June of 1947 CE, the tables were beginning to change.
In September of 1948 CE, the CPC under Mao Zedong, led three military campaigns against the KMT.
The campaigns successfully liberated most areas in China and managed to crush Chiang’s forces.
Chiang fled with a few troops and hid across the Yangtze River, which is a natural barrier.
In January of 1949 CE, General Fu Zuoyi of the KMT party yielded to defeat and signed a peace treaty with the CPC members in Beiping (Beijing).
The CPC occupied Nanjing and Chiang and his men fled into Taiwan on April 23. In September of 1949 CE, the People’s Republic of China was formed and Mao Zedong was elected chairman of the Central People’s government.
On October 1 the officials were sworn in and Zhou Enlai was appointed premier of the government administration council.
The ousting of Chiang Kai Shek and the rise of the communists into power in China caused the US to cut all diplomatic relations with the Chinese nation for two decades.
Chiang Kai Shek also caused for an ongoing division between mainland China and the island of Taiwan because the latter began to demand independence from China.
The breaking point of US and China relations was in June of 1950 CE.
A civil war broke out on the Korean peninsula.
The US tried to inherit Korea as a colony since it had defeated Japan.
Seeing opportunity, US sent troops to Korea and the straits of Taiwan.
On July 7, US manipulated the UN Command to intervene in Korea.
By September the US under the UN, began attacking the Korean People’s Army in an attempt to seize the whole of Korea.
In the process the US bombed Chinese villages and homes by the border of the two countries.
The Chinese then sent their army and volunteers to protect the Koreans and the battles went on from October of 1950 CE to June of 1951 CE.
The UN forces retreated and from then on, up until the 70s CE, the US did not work in any way with China.