List of high-quality authors Review Kissinger's re-evaluation of the Korean War: China is the biggest winner, and the Soviet Union is the biggest loser?
In his book On China, Mr. Kissinger makes a thought-provoking point that the end of the Korean War marked the real event of China's diplomatic independence. This insight has led to a re-examination of China's role in the postwar diplomatic arena and has sparked widespread discussion.
In Kissinger's view, the outcome of the Korean War was a turning point for China. Although China has endured enormous sacrifices in the war, it has also demonstrated its great military strength and diplomatic independence. China's performance in the Korean War made the world realize that it is no longer a passive observer, but a country with an independent foreign policy and a strong military. This change won China the respect and status of the international community, and established its influence in the diplomatic arena later.
Kissinger further noted that although the United States suffered a rare defeat in the Korean War, the biggest loser was the Soviet Union. This assertion has aroused interest and controversy. Why did Kissinger consider the Soviet Union to be the biggest loser of the Korean War?
2011, United States.
An old man with gray hair put on his glasses, picked up the new book in his hand, and stroked the cover of the book with satisfaction, feeling a lot of emotion in his heart. This old man is the highly respected Kissinger.
On behalf of the United States, he knocked on China's door and opened a new chapter in the relationship between the two countries. With the fading out, Kissinger wrote what he saw and heard into a book entitled "On China", which is concise and powerful.
Kissinger closed his eyes in satisfaction, recalling images of the past in his mind, and finally stopped at a particular war.
He knew that once the book was published, there would be a renewed focus on the war. His sole purpose was to lift the fog and make future generations re-examine the war.
The war that attracted Kissinger's attention was the Korean War, which broke out in 1950.
As we all know, the Korean War was ostensibly a confrontation between South Korea and North Korea, but in reality it involved several countries. In the end, the United States and South Korea were defeated, while China and North Korea were victorious. Kissinger, however, believes that there is another layer of victory or defeat in this war.
To put it simply, China is the only winner, and the United States is not as miserable as one might think. The only loser in this war turned out to be the Soviet Union, which hung high and stayed out of the way!
Kissinger's peculiar insight has attracted widespread attention.
In fact, it is not incomprehensible why China is considered the winner of the Korean War.
Kissinger noted that although China has not been able to completely thwart U.S. intentions on the Korean Peninsula, it has won one of its most important achievements in the war: it has established a new international image.
In the past, many Western countries have been mild, compromised, and even cowardly in their perception of China, which has led to frequent bullying. In the face of the threat of war, New China has demonstrated to the world through practical actions that China is willing to use strong force to defend its national interests at all costs.
Although in the early 50s of the last century, there was a huge gap in power between China and the United States, but China, with its terrifying willpower, still shocked the United States.
This war is not only an ordinary war, but also a sign of China's rebirth, and the prestige of China's affairs has been established. The Korean War actually established China's unshakable centrality in Asia.
From this point of view, China not only won a temporary victory in the war, but also paved the way for a brilliant rise in the future.
At the same time, the United States has not achieved nothing.
Although South Korea failed to unify the Korean Peninsula, the United States made good on its promises to its allies. In this war, the full support of the United States for South Korea was seen by all allies and actually strengthened the Western order centered on the United States.
More importantly, after the signing of the armistice, North Korea suffered a severe reduction in its overall strength, although it had a brief respite.
Further, both North and South Korea have suffered heavy losses, and the Korean Peninsula has actually prevented the rise of a new great power and provided the best excuse for the United States to intervene in Asia.
To this day, the repercussions of the Korean War are still ongoing, and the United States is still involved in the affairs of the Korean Peninsula, and it is not easy to get it to leave.
Kissinger positively affirmed the performance of China and the United States in the Korean War, but expressed contempt for the Soviet Union. He even mercilessly pointed out that, most ironically, Stalin became the biggest loser of this war.
This assertion can be understood from several perspectives.
Kissinger's reason for seeing the Soviet Union as the biggest loser of the Korean War is simple. In his opinion, the expected goals of the USSR in this war were all in vain, the results were minimal, and it could be said that nothing was achieved.
Before delving into the relationship between the USSR and the Korean War, we need to understand the inextricable connection of the USSR with this war. Although on the surface, the Soviet Union did not seem to be directly related to the Korean War, in reality, the war was closely entangled with the Soviet Union. In a sense, the USSR can be considered the trigger for the outbreak of war.
The outbreak of the war was marked by the brazen crossing of the 38th parallel, which marked a full-scale escalation of the fighting on the Korean Peninsula. This 38th parallel was actually the product of negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II to avoid conflict. At that time, the United States feared that the Soviet Union would take advantage of the war against Japan to occupy the entire Korean Peninsula, so it began consultations with the Soviet Union and drew this temporary demarcation line on the Korean Peninsula.
The USSR agreed to the demands of the United States, but, paradoxically, the people of the Korean Peninsula did not know about it. It was not until the outbreak of war that they realized the importance of the 38th parallel, but by this time it was too late.
Thus, the Korean War can essentially be seen as a by-product of the US-Soviet Cold War, in which the Soviet Union bore some responsibility.
Furthermore, the Soviet Union did not stay out of the war, as it seemed. Their actions and tactics have long been shown to have a significant impact on the outcome of the war.
The Soviet Union's actions had two main purposes, one against the United States and the other against China.
First, the Soviet Union wanted to weaken the influence of the United States by supporting North Korea.
Prior to this, China had successfully carried out a revolution and established a proletarian regime. In the face of China's rise, the United States has not reacted violently, at least without armed intervention. Therefore, the Soviet Union thought that the United States might take the same attitude towards North Korea.
Stalin was completely wrong in his judgment on this point. In the eyes of the United States, China and North Korea are not equated. China is a natural power, and the United States is well aware that China has a huge territory and population, and in the event of a military conflict, it will trigger a large-scale war around the world. North Korea, on the other hand, is a small country.
The United States is confident that it can solve the North Korean problem because they realize that they have lost the opportunity to contain China, so they will go all out to seize the North Korean problem.
The second purpose of the Soviet Union was to strengthen its control over China by sowing discord between China and the United States.
After the outbreak of the war, Stalin has been urging *** to send troops and generously promised to give China ** aid. The Soviet Union hoped to completely antagonize China and the United States through war, and become China's savior at a critical moment, so as to strengthen China's trust in the Soviet Union.
The end result is quite the opposite. After the end of the Korean War, Sino-Soviet relations gradually deteriorated and cracks appeared, while Sino-American relations moved towards normalization. The Soviet plan was a complete failure. As well as they may seem, why would they get nothing in the war?
When looking back at the Korean War, the role of the Soviet Union in it is often inexplicable. They ostensibly claim to support China and North Korea, but in reality they have taken a series of bizarre actions that ultimately led to their own defeat.
The defeat of the Soviet Union can be summed up in one sentence: only thinking about the gain, but not willing to give. At the outbreak of the Korean War, China's economy was in difficulty, while the Soviet Union was wealthy. However, Soviet assistance to China was not altruistic. Although they provided some first-class ammunition, they demanded that China pay high loans and interest, and the quality of the first-class provided was also worrying, which brought a lot of trouble to China's war.
What is even more puzzling is that when China needed more support in the war, the Soviet Union wavered at the diplomatic level and showed extreme irresponsibility. China wanted to work with the Soviet Union to defeat the U.S. military, but in the end it turned out that the Soviets were not what they wanted. The promised support of the USSR was not fulfilled, and their performance on the battlefield was extremely hesitant, which put the squadron in a rather passive situation.
The diplomacy of the USSR was also puzzling. Not only did they break their promises in the Korean War, but they also had some secret diplomatic exchanges with the United States in an attempt to ease tensions with the United States. This performance not only disappointed China, but also caused divisions and controversies within the Soviet Union.
Stalin's attitude is even more puzzling. He rejected the proposal of the Soviet Politburo to send troops to Korea, a decision that also led to a further decline in the Soviet Union's position in the Korean War.
Mr. Kissinger's profound analysis took diplomacy as the main line and outlined the international situation during the Korean War. Although the positions are very different, we can still feel the difficulties faced by our ancestors during that era.
Seventy years have passed, and the international situation is once again facing tremendous changes, and when we see the United States, which is in decline and mired in party and government disputes, one cannot help but wonder how Mr. Kissinger feels at this moment.
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