WI:China never turned communist?

Let's say Chiang gets alot more support from the Allies, and after figuring out where Mao is hiding, launches an all out assault on his hideout, and although the Kuomintang army suffers heavy casualties, Mao and the rest of his comrades that would have had formed the government of the People's Republic of China put up a vicious fight. But, Chiang stopped it that night, as Mao and the rest of his followers were excuted. The ones that got away either left to the USSR or the United States.

Now, what would Chiang have to do to prevent a another future civil war from happening? Also, how would a non communist China change history? Would the Soviet Union make its main allie North Korea then,instead of China? Will China still be considered a force to be reckoned with?
 
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How about either Chiang doesn't drive out the communists or a different leader takes over the Nationalists who doesn't drive out the communists?

If Chiang doesn't drive out the Communists, then as soon as the Japanese are driven out (much easier without the fighting between the Communists and the Nationalists), then the Republic of China drives out the Warlords and a multi-party democracy exists in China involving the Chinese Communist Party as one of the parties.

The example of China and how Communism and Democracy can exist under the same roof (the Communists were voted in, though China didn't become fully communist, just some of the aspects of Communism were introduced and taken away) ended the Cold War in the 1960's as the USSR became like China along with the US allowing Communist parties.

Does this work?
 
Let's say Chiang gets alot more support from the Allies, and after figuring out where Mao is hiding, launches an all out assault on his hideout, and although the Kuomintang army suffers heavy casualties, Mao and the rest of his comrades that would have had formed the government of the People's Republic of China put up a vicious fight. But, Chiang stopped it that night, as Mao and the rest of his followers were excuted. The ones that got away either left to the USSR or the United States.

Now, what would Chiang have to do to prevent a another future civil war from happening? Also, how would a non communist China change history? Would the Soviet Union make its main allie North Korea then,instead of China? Will China still be considered a force to be reckoned with?

According to the book "What If?", he had a very good chance at it in 1945. The best chance at it, according to that book, would have been to beat the Communists back into Manchuria, which becomes a Chinese North Korea, with Mao almost entirely subservient to Stalin.

Without the entire PRC behind them, I don't see Manchuria crossing into North Korea should that war progress as IOTL, and if they did, Chiang might try to reunite China on his own terms.

As for the development past that, I think Nationalist China would eventually modernize its economy and engage in reforms so as to have better relations with the west, rather like Spain, or even OTL China. South China will probably become a prosperous, democratic nation, possibly aligned with the US, but not necessarily, against the Soviets and Manchurians.

Mao kills less people, as less people are at his disposal, and possibly both Manchuria and North Korea disintegrate after the fall of the Soviet Union (assuming that that happens as well).

In the US, there'd be less of a Red Scare without this "Who Lost China?" BS flying around. Possibly even better relations with the Soviets as a result, in the long-term.
 
According to the book "What If?", he had a very good chance at it in 1945. The best chance at it, according to that book, would have been to beat the Communists back into Manchuria, which becomes a Chinese North Korea, with Mao almost entirely subservient to Stalin.

Without the entire PRC behind them, I don't see Manchuria crossing into North Korea should that war progress as IOTL, and if they did, Chiang might try to reunite China on his own terms.

As for the development past that, I think Nationalist China would eventually modernize its economy and engage in reforms so as to have better relations with the west, rather like Spain, or even OTL China. South China will probably become a prosperous, democratic nation, possibly aligned with the US, but not necessarily, against the Soviets and Manchurians.

Mao kills less people, as less people are at his disposal, and possibly both Manchuria and North Korea disintegrate after the fall of the Soviet Union (assuming that that happens as well).

In the US, there'd be less of a Red Scare without this "Who Lost China?" BS flying around. Possibly even better relations with the Soviets as a result, in the long-term.

I thank you for your reply comrade!

But, if I remeber right, I thought Chiang secretly hated the US. He only accepted thier help because he thought he had no other choice? Well, thats what Wikapedia tells me anyway. Also, lets say Chiang tries to capture Mao, and Manchuria would the Soviet Union try to defend Manchuria agaisnt Chiang's China?

Also, how would this help in relations with the Soviet Union? Wouldn't Chiang hate obviosuly the communist nation as well? I for one can see a nationlist China getting into fights with North Korea, the remains of Mao's forces if any, or the Soviet Union. -ND4
 
How about either Chiang doesn't drive out the communists or a different leader takes over the Nationalists who doesn't drive out the communists?

If Chiang doesn't drive out the Communists, then as soon as the Japanese are driven out (much easier without the fighting between the Communists and the Nationalists), then the Republic of China drives out the Warlords and a multi-party democracy exists in China involving the Chinese Communist Party as one of the parties.

The example of China and how Communism and Democracy can exist under the same roof (the Communists were voted in, though China didn't become fully communist, just some of the aspects of Communism were introduced and taken away) ended the Cold War in the 1960's as the USSR became like China along with the US allowing Communist parties.

Does this work?
I am actually writing a timeline / story with a similar POD - a prominent GMD / KMT politician is not assassinated in 1925, and as a result the GMD-CCP alliance is maintained, and Sino-Soviet cooperation intensifies. The Northern Expedition goes slightly differently (no purge of the Communists, no split between the Nanjing and Wuhan GMD governments, etc) and China as a whole remains much more leftist. The leaders are more revolutionary and sympathetic to socialism, the rightists having been purged in 1925. There is more chaos in the countryside as the GMD pursues a more Nationalist Revolution which involves liberating the peasantry from landlords and the workers from imperial control. There is no civil war between Jiang Jieshi and the Communists, but ITTL the GMD is more concerned with social reform and dealing with the less cooperative warlords, so it gets distracted as the Japanese move into Manchuria...

Your idea about the cold war is interesting, though. I had considered China to eventually allow multiple parties, but what you suggest could be a useful addition to making a world markedly different from our own. :cool:
 
According to the book "What If?", he had a very good chance at it in 1945. The best chance at it, according to that book, would have been to beat the Communists back into Manchuria, which becomes a Chinese North Korea, with Mao almost entirely subservient to Stalin.

I think you are remembering wrong. It wasn't Chiang beating the Communists so bad that they fled into Manchuria. It was Chiang abandoning any attempt to take Manchuria after the Soviet withdrawl because the Nationalists were defeated very badly there. Instead, Chiang would drive them out south of the Great Wall, but abandon everything north of it.

Instead of attempting to defeat the Communists militarily, Chiang would enact his government and economic reforms which would eliminate most of the corruption that was the downfall of the Nationalists.


But, if I remeber right, I thought Chiang secretly hated the US. He only accepted thier help because he thought he had no other choice? Well, thats what Wikapedia tells me anyway.

Chiang didn't hate the US, but he had a very difficult relationship with several specific Americans. He also felt very let down by them at various times after World War II.

Chiang was above all a Chinese patriot, and he would cooperate with anyone who could help China. He certainly looked to the US for help because the US did not have any colonial ambitions in China unlike the Europeans or Soviets. And his in-laws had a lot of ties to the US.

In general, it is possible for the Nationalists to defeat the Communists after 1945, but it requires many different actions by Chiang. Chiang staked everything on his ability to defeat the Communists militarily first, and then he would take the necessary reforms and eliminate any remaining regional warlords. Chiang bet wrong. The failure to reform the army hampered his ability to defeat the Communists militarily. The failure to reform the economy meant much of the public welcomed the arrival of the Communists. The failure to reform the government meant alienating members of the US government and media which was providing him support.

Chiang should have realized that he was not facing the small, isolated group of "bandits" he meant to eliminate entirely at Xi'an in 1936. Instead, in 1945 he was facing a much larger group of dedicated individuals who benefited from the respectability of "fighting" alongside the Nationalists against the Japanese, and who were well supplied from the supplies they received from surrendered Japanese and left by the Red Army. They were not going to be quickly eliminated, and he needed to take measures to ensure that the Nationalists were strong enough for the long haul. Chiang fundamentally misjudged the situation.

It would be very hard for Chiang to make a sudden decapitating attack that would have killed Mao and all other members of the Communist leadership in 1945. Chiang did in fact take the old Communist "capital" at Yenan, but at that time Mao and the others had plenty more places to go to. It is perhaps possible for Chiang to do that in 1936 if he somehow learns of the plan to kidnap him by General Zhang Xueliang. Chiang defeats the attempt, arrests Zhang Xueliang, and is able to eliminate the Communists right before the Marco Polo Bridge Incident begins the war with Japan. Whether he could eliminate the Communists is debateable, but it is at least feasible.
 
Instead of avoiding the Shanghai purge, perhaps the real change would be a more successful one - in particular the elimination of Zhou Enlai. Without his leadership the Communists are going to be severally damaged.
 
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