Chronology：125 Years of Chinese Revolution
1840-42 The "Opium Wars, "during which Great Britain forcibly opens China to foreign trade. They are followed by the granting of territorial concessions and rights of inland navigation and missionary activity. The British take Hongkong.
1860 China accepts Russian annexation of eastern Siberia.
1864 Near-victorious T'ai-p'ing (Great Peace) Rebellion crushed by Sino-Manchu forces under General Tseng Kuo-fan, helped by British army regulars and mixed European and American mercenaries. Chinese revolution "postponed sixty years."Following French penetration and seizure of Indochina (1862), encroachments increasingly reduce the Manchu-Chinese Empire to semicolonial status.
1866 Sun Yat-sen (founder of Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, 1912) born in Kwangtung province.
1868 Czarist Russia annexes Bokhara and begins penetration toward Chinese Turkestan.
1869 Suez Canal completed.
1870 Lenin born. 1874 Churchill born.
1879 Ch'en Tu-hsiu (first general secretary, 1921-27, of Kungch'antang, or Chinese Communist Party) born in Anhui province. Rapid expansion of French and British colonial empires in Africa.
1883-85 Franco-Chinese War. Chinese troops in Indochina, defending Peking's claim to suzerainty there, are defeated. France also acquires new territorial-political concessions in China. Britain ends China's suzerainty in Burma.
1889 Cecil Rhodes establishes British South African Company.
1893 Mao Tse-tung born in Hunan province. France extends its Indo-chinese colonial power to Laos and Cambodia.
1894-95 Sino-Japanese War. China forced to cede Taiwan (Formosa) to Japan and abandon ancient claims to suzerainty over Korea.
1898 "Hundred Days Reform"under Emperor Kuang Hsu. Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi imprisons Kuang Hsu and returns to power, to remain real ruler till her death (1909). United States defeats Spain, takes Philippines.
1899 "Open Door"doctrine proclaimed by U.S.A.; "equal opportunity"for foreign powers in the economic and commercial "development"of China.
1900 So-called Boxer Rebellion. Antiforeign uprising. Allied reprisals include mass executions, crushing indemnities, new concessions, legalized foreign garrisons between Tientsin and Peking, etc. Czarist Russia takes China's port of Talien (Dairen), builds naval base (Port Arthur), acquires railway concessions across China's three northeastern provinces (Manchuria). Mao Tse-tung works as laborer on his father's farm.
1902 Anglo-Japanese alliance.
1901-05 Russo-Japanese War. Japan gets Port Arthur, Dairen, Russia's concessions in South Manchuria (China), and additional "rights."Dr. Sun Yat-sen forms revolutionary Alliance Society in Tokyo.
1905 First Russian Revolution.
1911 Republican revolution (the "First Revolution") overthrows Manchu power in Central and South China. At Nanking, Sun Yat-sen declared president of provisional government, first Chinese Republic. Student Mao Tse-tung joins rebel army; resigns after six months, thinking "revolution over."
1912 Rulers of Manchu Dynasty formally abdicate. Sun Yat-sen resigns in favor of Yuan Shih-k'ai, as president of the Republic of China. Peking is its capital. Kuomintang (Nationalists) dominates first parliament, forms cabinet. Italy takes Libya.
1912-14 Provisional constitution and parliament suspended by militarist Yuan Shih-k'ai, who becomes dictator. Japan imposes "Twenty-one Demands, "their effect to reduce China to vassal state. Yuan Shih-k'ai accepts most of the demands. Cabinet resigns. European war begins. Japan seizes Tsingtao, German colony in China. Mao first studies books by Western scholars.
1915 New Youth (Hsin Ch'ing-nien) magazine, founded by Ch'en Tu-hsiu, becomes focus of revolutionary youth, and popularizes written vernacular (pai-hua) language; death knell of Confucian classicism. Mao Tse-tung becomes New Youth contributor, under pseudonym. Yuan Shih-k'ai attempts to re-establish monarchy, with himself as emperor.
1916 Second (Republican) Revolution：overthrow of "Emperor"Yuan Shih-k'ai by "revolt of the generals"led by Tsai O. Nullification of Yuan's acceptance of Japan's "Twenty-one Demands."Era of warlords begins.
1917 Peking "shadow government"declares war on Germany. Generalissimo Sun Yat-sen, heading separate provisional regime in Canton, also declares war. In Hunan, Mao Tse-tung becomes co-founder of radical youth group, New People's Study Society. The October Revolution occurs in Russia.
1918 End of First World War. Mao Tse-tung graduates from Hunan First Normal School, aged twenty-five. He visits Peking; becomes assistant to Li Ta-chao, librarian of Peking University. Li Ta-chao and Ch'en Tu-hsiu establish Marxist study society, which Mao joins. All three later become founders of Chinese Communist Party.
1918-19 175, 000 laborers sent overseas to help allies; 400 "Work-Study"student interpreters include Chou En-lai. Mao Tse-tung accompanies students to Shanghai. Back in Hunan, Mao founds Hsiang Chiang Review, anti-imperialist, antimilitarist, pro-Russian Revolution.
1919 May Fourth Movement. Nationwide student demonstrations against Versailles Treaty award of Germany's China concessions to Japan. Beginning of modern nationalist movement. Hungarian (Bela Kun) Communist-led social revolution suppressed.
1920 Mao Tse-tung organizes Hunan Branch of Socialist Youth Corps; among its members, Liu Shao-ch'i. Mao marries Yang K'ai-hui, daughter of his esteemed ethics professor at normal school. Mao helps found Cultural Book Study Society. League of Nations established.
1921 Chinese Communist Party formally organized at First Congress, Shanghai. Mao participates; is chosen secretary of CP of Hunan. Ts'ai Ho-sen, Chou En-lai, and others form Communist Youth League in Paris. Revolution in Mongolia.
1922 Sun Yat-sen agrees with Lenin's representative to accept Soviet aid and form united front with CCP; Communists may now hold joint membership in Kuomintang, led by Sun. Washington Conference restores Germany's colony to China.
1923 Agreement between Sun Yat-sen and Adolf Joffe provides basis for KMT-CCP-CPSU alliance. At Third Congress of CCP, in Canton, Mao Tse-tung elected to Central Committee and chief of organization bureau.
1924 First Congress of Kuomintang approves admission of Communists. Mao Tse-tung elected an alternate member, Central Executive Committee, Kuomintang. Lenin dies.
1925 Mao returns to Hunan, organizes peasant support for Nationalist (Liberation) Expedition. Writes his first "classic, "Analysis of Classes in Chinese Society (published 1926). Sun Yat-sen dies. Russian advisers choose Chiang Kai-shek as commander-in-chief. "Universal suffrage"in Japan.
1926 Nationalist Revolutionary Expedition launched from Canton under supreme military command of Chiang Kai-shek. Mao, back in Canton, becomes deputy director Kuomintang Peasant Bureau and Peasant Movement Training Institute; he heads agit-prop department. Nationalist-Communist coalition forces conquer most of South China. Communist-led Indonesian revolution suppressed by Dutch.
1927 Stalin victorious over Trotsky. In March, Mao Tse-tung publishes his Report of an Investigation into the Peasant Movement in Hunan; calls poor peasants "main force"of revolution, demands confiscation of landlords' land. Thesis rejected by Communist Party Central Committee. In April, Chiang Kai-shek leads anti-Communist coup, "beheads Party"; Communist membership reduced, by four-fifths, to 10, 000. Ch'en Tu-hsiu deposed as CCP secretary. Party driven underground. Mao leads peasant uprising in Hunan (August); defeated, he flees to mountain stronghold, Chingkangshan. Nanchang Uprising also defeated. Retreat to countryside. Canton (Commune) Uprising fails. P'eng P'ai leads survivors to Hailufeng and sets up Hailufeng Soviet (1927). Sukarno forms Indonesian Nationalist Party.
1928 Chiang Kai-shek establishes nominal centralized control over China under National Government (a Kuomintang, one-party dictator ship). Mao Tse-tung and Chu Teh join forces at Chingkangshan, Hunan, form first "Red Army"of China and local soviet. Paris Peace Pact signed by the great powers, renouncing war "as an instrument of national policy."
1929 Mao Tse-tung and Chu Teh conquer rural territories around Juichin, Kiangsi, where a soviet government is proclaimed. Communist Politburo, dominated by Li Li-san, remains hidden in foreign-controlled Shanghai. Stock market crash in New York.
1930 Conflict between Mao's "rural soviet movement"and Politburo leader Li Li-san, who favors urban insurrections. Red Army led by Mao and P'eng Teh-huai captures Changsha, capital of Hunan, then withdraws. Second assault on Changsha a costly failure. Li Li-san discredited by Moscow. Chiang Kai-shek launches first major offensive against the Reds. Mao Tse-tung's wife and sister executed in Changsha. Gandhi leads nonviolent civil disobedience in India.
1931 Spain declares a Republic. Meeting underground in January, in Shanghai, Central Committee of CCP elects Wang Ming (Ch'en Shao-yu) general secretary and chief of Party. All-China Congress of Chinese Soviets, convened in deep hinterland at Juichin, elects Mao Tse-tung chairman of the first All-China Soviet Government, Chu Teh military commander. In September, Japan begins conquest of Manchuria; Chiang Kai-shek suspends his third "annihilation campaign"against Red Army. End of Great Famine (1929-31) in Northwest China; estimated dead, five to ten million. Wang Ming goes to Moscow. Po Ku heads Shanghai Politburo.
1932 Japan attacks Shanghai, defended by Nineteenth Route Army; unsupported by Chiang Kai-shek, it retreats to Fukien province. Chiang authorizes Tangku Truce, to end Sino-Japanese hostilities. He renews offensive against Kiangsi Soviet; Reds declare war on Japan. Police in Shanghai International Settlement help Chiang Kai-shek extirpate Red underground. Politburo chiefs Po Ku, Lo Fu, Liu Shao-ch'i, and Chou En-lai join Mao in Kiangsi Soviet. Roosevelt elected President of U.S.
1933 Nineteenth Route Army rebels and offers alliance to Reds, which is rejected. Chiang Kai-shek destroys Nineteenth R.A., begins a new campaign against Soviet China. Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany.
1934 Second All-China Soviet Congress re-elects Mao Tse-tung chairman, but Party leadership falls to "Twenty-eight Bolsheviks."Red Army changes tactics and suffers decisive defeats. Main forces and party cadres retreat to West China.
1935 Politburo meets in Tsunyi, Kweichow, in January; elects Mao Tse-tung effective leader of the Party and army during Long March to Northwest China. In July, Kiangsi Red forces reach Szechuan and join troops under Politburo member and Party co-founder Chang Kuo-t'ao, driven from soviet areas north of Yangtze River. In enlarged meeting of Politburo, Chang Kuo-t'ao disputes Mao's policy and leadership. Red forces divide; Mao leads southern forces into new base in Northwest China, after one year of almost continuous marching, totaling 6, 000 miles. (Chang Kuo-t'ao follows him a year later.) Japan demands separation of two North China provinces, under "autonomous"regime. Japanese troops move into Chinese Inner Mongolia, set up bogus "independent"state. December 9 student rebellion in Peking touches off wave of anti-Japanese national patriotic activity. Italy seizes Ethiopa.
1936 Mao Tse-tung, interviewed by the author in Pao An, Shensi, tells his life story and his account of the revolution, and offers to end civil war to form a united front against Japan. Mao lectures to the Red Army University; his On the Tactics of Fighting Japanese Imperialism and Strategic Problems in Chind's Revolutionary War become doctrinal basis of new stage of united front against Japan. Spurning Communists' offer of a truce (first made on August 1, 1935), Chiang Kai-shek mobilizes for "final annihilation"of Reds in Northwest.
The Sian Incident, in December：Chiang Kai-shek "arrested"by his deputy commander-in-chief, Chang Hsueh-liang, exiled Man-churian leader. Marshal Chang insists that Chiang accept national united front against Japan. Following Chiang Kai-shek's release, and undeclared truce in civil war, Kuomintang opens negotiations with CCP and its "anti-Japanese government"based in Yenan, Shensi.
V. "United Front"Against Japan：The Great Patriotic, or Anti-Japanese, War (1937-45)
1937 In July, Japan massively invades China. Agreement signed for joint Nationalist-Communist war of resistance against Japan. Chinese Soviet Government dissolved but continues as autonomous regional regime; Red Army becomes Eighth Route and New Fourth armies under Chiang's nominal command. Mao writes theoretical works, On Contradiction and On Practice. Italy leaves the League of Nations.
1938 Mao outlines Communists' wartime political and military ends and means in On the New Stage, On the Protracted War, and Strategic Problems in the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War. Chang Kuo-t'ao, expelled from the CCP, enters Kuomintang areas. Mao becomes un disputed leader of Party. Japanese armies overwhelm North China. Nationalists retreat to west. Communists organize partisans far behind Japanese lines. Nazi Germany annexes Austria and Czechoslovakia.
1939 Mao's On the New Democracy outlines class basis of united front, intimates future coalition government structure. Rapid expansion of Communist cadres and military forces. Hitler-Stalin pact. Germany attacks Poland. With outbreak of European war, China's struggle begins to merge with the Second World War. Yenan blockaded by Nationalist troops.
1940-41 Breakdown of practical cooperation between Communists and Nationalists follows Chiang Kai-shek's attack on New Fourth Army. Ch'en Yi becomes its commander. After Pearl Harbor, Kuomintang relies on American aid while Communists vigorously expand guerrilla areas.
1942 CCP "rectification"campaign centers on Wang Ming and Moscow-trained "dogmatists"; Mao's "native"leadership enhanced.
1943 Mao Tse-tung credited (by Liu Shao-ch'i) with having "created a Chinese or Asiatic form of Marxism."Attraction of "New Democracy"proves widespread among peasants and intellectuals; Kuomintang morale and fighting capacity rapidly decline. Chou En-lai claims 800, 000 Party members, a half-million troops and trained militia, in "liberated areas"exceeding 100 million population. Fascism collapses in Italy. By decree, Stalin abolishes the Comintern.
1944 U.S. Army "observers"arrive in Yenan, Communist "guerrilla"capital. Allied landing in Normandy. President Roosevelt re-elected.
1945 Seventh National Congress of CCP (April) claims Party membership of 1, 200, 000, with armed forces of 900, 000. Germany defeated. Russia enters Far Eastern war; signs alliance with Chiang Kai-shek's government. Mao's report On Coalition Government becomes formal basis of Communist demands to end Kuomintang dictatorship. After V-E Day, Communist-led forces flood North China and Manchuria, competing with American-armed Nationalists. U.S. Ambassador Hurley flies Mao Tse-tung to Chungking to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek. Yalta Pact promises Taiwan to China. Death of Roosevelt. Truman uses atomic bomb on Hiroshima. End of Second World War.
1946 Nationalists and Communists fail to agree on "coalition government"; in June the Second Civil War, called by the Communists the War of Liberation, begins. Under Soviet Russian Occupation, Eastern Europe "goes Red."
1947 Mao's The Present Situation and Our Tasks outlines strategic and tactical plans, calling for general offensive against Nationalists. Truman Doctrine proclaimed in Greece.
1948 Despite U.S. aid to Nationalists, their defeat in Manchuria is overwhelming. Yugoslavia is expelled from Cominform, postwar successor to the Comintern.
1949 As his armies disintegrate, Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan. Over the rest of China the People's Liberation Army is victorious. In March, the Central Committee of the CCP, led by Mao, arrives in Peking. Atlantic Pact (NATO) proclaimed. U.S. "White Paper"blames Chiang's "reactionaries"for "loss of China."
1949 Based on Mao's The People's Democratic Dictatorship, a People's Political Consultative Conference is convened, in form representing workers, peasants, intellectuals, national bourgeoisie. Chinese People's Government organized, with Mao elected chairman. On October 1, Chinese People's Republic formally proclaimed in Peking. Mao announces foreign policy of "leaning to one side"(toward U.S.S.R.). Great Britain, Soviet Russia, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland recognize the new government; the United States withdraws its diplomats from China. Mao Tse-tung leaves for Moscow——his first trip abroad. U.S. Communist Party leaders convicted of advocating violent overthrow of the government.
1950 Mao concludes Sino-Soviet treaty of alliance; Stalin grants China $300, 000, 000 loan. Korean War breaks out (June) and Chinese "Volunteers"intervene (October). India proclaims independence.
1951-52 With Soviet aid, Chinese resistance in Korea continues. American forces, barred from carrying war into China by U.N. and Allied policies, hold positions at Thirty-eighth Parallel in Korea. First hydrogen bomb exploded (1952) by U.S.A.
1953 Stalin dies. Korean armistice signed. U.S. forms alliance with Chiang Kai-shek, making Taiwan U.S. protectorate. Peking announces First Five-Year Plan. Soviet grants support for 156 large-scale Chinese projects. Moscow agrees to liquidate Soviet-Chinese joint enterprises and withdraw all troops from China. Rosenbergs executed in the U.S.
1954 Khrushchev first visits Peking. Land reform (redistribution) completed. Agricultural cooperatives lay basis for collectivization (1957). State establishes partnerships with remaining private enterprise, preliminary to complete nationalization (1957). Geneva Accords end French power in Indochina and recognize independence of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Under the influence of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the Eisenhower administration takes "note"of Geneva Accords, but begins intervention in support of Ngo Dinh Diem.
1955 At Bandung Conference (twenty-nine Afro-Asian nations) China seeks broader anti-imperialist role against U.S. and allies. China's "foreign aid"program competes with that of U.S.S.R. Warsaw Pact signed by U.S.S.R. and East European satellites.
1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin at Twentieth Congress of CPSU. He proclaims end of personality cult and beginning of collective leadership. "Hundred Flowers"period invites criticism of CCP from dissatisfied Chinese intellectuals. Hungarian revolt; Peking backs suppression. China publishes important Maoist thesis, On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, acknowledging continued "contradictions"within and between socialist states.
1957 Mao's On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People defines limitations of criticism in relation to the Party; advances thesis of "unity-criticism-unity"as dialectical process to isolate "enemies of socialism"and peacefully resolve "nonantagonistic"conflicts of interest between the state, the Party, and "the people."Russia agrees to supply sample atom bomb to China and help in nuclear weapons development. Sputnik launched. At November conference in Moscow, Mao discerns a "turning point"：the "East Wind is prevailing over the West Wind."He contends socialist forces outbalance capitalist forces. Thesis disputed by Russians. Breakup of Sino-Soviet unity begins.
1958 China announces Second Five-Year Plan. Year of the "Great Leap Forward"and People's Communes. Peking's threat to liberate Taiwan provokes Sino-American crisis. Khrushchev withholds unconditional nuclear support for China, and Peking declines to place Chinese forces under Soviet military command. Sino-Soviet differences develop. First U.S. space satellite launched.
1959 During October anniversary celebrations Khrushchev again visits Peking, where he declares "imperialist war is not inevitable."His advocacy of "peaceful coexistence"with "American imperialism"is sharply rejected by Chinese. China gets no A-bomb and Mao loses confidence in Khrushchev. Tibetan rebellion. Dalai Lama flees to India. During China's disputes with India and Indonesia, Khrushchev offers aid to the latter. He disparages Chinese people's communes. Castro takes power in Cuba. As U.S. increases armed intervention, aimed to separate South Vietnam from the Republic, President Ho Chi Minh backs People's Liberation War in the South.
1960 In July, Moscow recalls all Soviet advisers from China, cancels more than 300 contracts, withdraws technical help. At Moscow international Party conference (November), Sino-Soviet "contradictions"intensify. Chinese openly identify Khrushchev as "revisionist."Russians accuse Mao of seeking "world holocaust."Massive crop failure and industrial dislocation in China. As Sino-Indian frontier incidents grow serious, Khrushchev plays neutral role, continues economic aid to India. John F. Kennedy elected U.S. President.
1961 At Twenty-second Soviet Party Congress in Moscow, Chou En-lai walks out when Khrushchev bans Albanian Party. Using texts from the newly published (1960) Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. IV, Peking's Party press proclaims Maoist and antirevisionist theses "true Marxism-Leninism."Chinese replace Soviet advisers in Albania. Berlin Wall built.
1962 Sino-Soviet clashes on both state and Party levels foreshadow wide international ideological fight. Kennedy-Khrushchev duel over Cuba. When Khrushchev withdraws missiles from Cuba, Peking ridicules him for "adventurism"and "capitulationism."Sino-Indian border incidents climaxed by Chinese assault, driving Indians from 35, 000 square miles of territory. Chinese troops withdraw, unilaterally create "demilitarized zone, "call for peaceful negotiation. U.N. intervenes in the Congo.
1960-63 Following the disruption of the Chinese economy caused by dislocations during the "Great Leap Forward, "by withdrawal of Soviet aid, and by a series of natural calamities, the People's Republic slowly recovers from near-famine conditions.
1963 In final defiance of Peking's demand for a militant international "united front against American imperialism, "Moscow signs nuclear test-ban treaty with United States, makes "peaceful coexistence"cardinal aim of Soviet foreign policy. Sino-Soviet split now reflected in intraparty cleavages in many countries. Mutual recriminations reinforced by open publication of past charges and countercharges by CCP and CPSU. Peking steps up drive for ideological leadership among "third world"Asian-African-Latin American revolutionary forces; Moscow strives to hold following among European parties. Premier Chou En-lai visits African countries. Mao Tse-tung issues declaration calling upon "the people of the world"to unite against American imperialism and support American Negro struggles. President Kennedy assassinated.
1964 Breakdown in Soviet-Chinese party and state relations becomes nearly complete. As France recognizes China, Communist split paralleled by Western split. Chinese offensive on two fronts——American imperialism and Soviet revisionism——has some success in dividing both camps. Two years of good harvests and new trade ties with Europe and Japan strengthen Chinese economy. Foreign Minister Ch'en Yi publicly expresses doubts concerning value of Sino-Soviet military alliance; China may no longer count on Russian aid. Mao urges Japanese socialists to recover territories lost to Russia and criticizes Soviet "imperialism"for encroachments on Chinese territories.
After fifteen years, achievements of Chinese revolution in uniting and modernizing China widely conceded even by enemies. In rivalry with Russia, and despite exclusion from United Nations, China becomes major power with which——according to General de Gaulle——United States must negotiate in order to end war in Southeast Asia. Mao Tse-tung, following a century of China's humiliation as a weak and backward nation, emerges as the first Asian political leader to attract significant world following. China explodes its first "nuclear device."
South Vietnamese Government, backed by the United States and badly defeated by growing forces of the National Liberation Front, verges on disintegration before proneutralist and propeace elements.
1965 President Johnson, soon after his January inauguration, moves American combat troops into Vietnam to prevent a neutralist coup in Saigon. In February he orders massive bombing of North Vietnam. Peking announces its readiness to intervene in support of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam if President Ho Chi Minh demands it, but in an interview with the author in January, Chairman Mao declares that China will not go to war against the United States unless China is directly attacked. In July, Lin Piao, China's Minister of Defense, publishes a declaration, "Long Live the Victory of the People's War！"which calls upon the underdeveloped nations, likened to the "rural areas of the world, "to join forces against American and Western imperialism, the "cities of the world."
China explodes its second nuclear device.
The United Nations vote on the admission of the People's Republic ends in a 47-47 tie, with Great Britain for the first time voting in favor of seating Peking. Lacking majority support, the move is once more defeated.
1966 U.S. forces in Vietnam approach 500, 000 men, and American bombing of North Vietnam spares few tagets except inner metropolitan areas of Hanoi and Haiphong. Russia sends North Vietnam aircraft, weapons, and technical personnel; China supplies small arms and food.
China launches a "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution"(GPCR) under Mao Tse-tung, with Lin Piao named as his "close comrade-in-arms."China prepares for an expected American invasion. An unprecedented purge attacks "bourgeois"and "revisionist"elements in the CCP. Chinese agriculture continues to improve, while scientific advances include the world's first synthesis of protein (insulin) and benzine.
1967 Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution develops into an attack on Liu Shao-ch'i, chairman of government and former first deputy Party leader, and on Teng Hsiao-p'ing, general secretary of the Party, as foremost among "those in the Party in authority who are taking the capitalist road."Profound intraparty struggle intensifies.
As the GPCR took foreign political experts on China by complete surprise, so China's explosion of a hydrogen bomb——twenty-six months after atomic fission was achieved——nonpluses foreign military and scientific savants. The same step had taken the U.S. more than seven years; France, after eight years of effort, had yet to test its first H-bomb.
Dean Rusk, U.S. Secretary of State, appeals for world sympathy for Johnson's armed intervention and massive bombing in Vietnam as necessary in order to contain "a billion Chinese armed with nuclear weapons, "but no European power offers to help Rusk. China's own official policy still calls for an international agreement to destroy all nuclear weapons——an invitation ignored by the U.S. On December 19, in a message to Vietnam's National Liberation Front presidium, Mao advises "the fraternal South Vietnamese people"to "rest assured that your struggle is our struggle."China detonates its seventh nuclear device, in the rapid development of a system of deterrents which could enhance her immunity from nuclear attack if China became directly engaged with U.S. ground forces in eastern Asia.
1968 In January, during an intelligence-gathering tour off the North Korean coast, the U.S. ship Pueblo is boarded by North Korean sailors and surrenders. In the ensuing crisis China calls for a united front among revolutionary parties in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and North Korea in support of the Vietnamese. (North Korea has a military alliance with the U.S.S.R. and the CPR.) The Pueblo incident makes it manifest that durable peace between China and the U.S. remains impossible while any part of Asia is subject to armed American intervention.