WI: Mao takes Taiwan and kicks out the Nationalists?

Xen

Banned
He'll need a navy to do this first, and then he will have to contend with the US Navy, which won't be easy. Maybe you can get some sort of a back room deal made between Washington and Moscow, the US won't support Taiwan if the Soviets withdrawal from North Korea, and perhaps the Soviets withdrawal support from Greece and agree to look the other way while US supported rebels topple the Communist government in Albania. None of these situations are very likely as neither side was willing to part with what it already had.

The only other thing I can think of is to kill Stalin off either during WWII or just after it, the new Soviet leadership has more sense and does not want to stand toe to toe with the US and has an agreement with Washington to allow all of Eastern Europe to have any form of government they desire, and agrees to let the United States occupy the entire Korean peninsula. Without Cold War tensions, the US Navy is not as likely to get involved in the Chinese Civil War if Mao goes after Taiwan.

The Kuomintang flees to San Francisco and sets up a government in exile which is only recognized by Chinese-Americans.
 
China didn't even have a navy back then.

Sure it did. Some KMT ships had defected but mostly it existed as a large fleet of merchant vessels and sailing ships which were being prepared as troop transports or rocket bombardment ships. In fact the first wave of Chinese troops deployed to Korea were trained for landing operations in Taiwan. So Mao was definitely serious about it.

The odds of success were not all that far fetched. KMT morale was low to nonexistent. The loyalty of the army was in doubt. The indigenous Taiwanese despised the KMT. The Communists had people on the island. The US had largely abandoned Chiang to his fate.

If the Korean War had been delayed, its not impossible Mao could have taken Taiwan. But I doubt Chiang would go quietly into retirement. He still had an army in Burma. IOTL Burma had suspected Chiang was going to launch a coup to takeover the whole country with CIA help. It would put the US in an awkward position though should Chiang relocate there.
 
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Sure it did. Some KMT ships had defected but mostly it existed as a large fleet of merchant vessels and sailing ships which were being prepared as troop transports or rocket bombardment ships. In fact the first wave of Chinese troops deployed to Korea were trained for landing operations in Taiwan. So Mao was definitely serious about it.

The odds of success were not all that far fetched. KMT morale was low to nonexistent. The loyalty of the army was in doubt. The indigenous Taiwanese despised the KMT. The Communists had people on the island. The US had largely abandoned Chiang to his fate.

If the Korean War had been delayed, its not impossible Mao could have taken Taiwan. But I doubt Chiang would go quietly into retirement. He still had an army in Burma. IOTL Burma had suspected Chiang was going to launch a coup to takeover the whole country with CIA help. It would put the US in an awkward position though should Chiang relocate there.

That's something new to me.Perhaps a communist Burma arises out of this ?
 
The Kuomintang ... sets up a government in exile which is only recognized by Chinese-Americans.
Taking into account that USA recognized Khmer Rouge as lawful government long after they had been kicked out of the country, I'm not sure.
 
Taking into account that USA recognized Khmer Rouge as lawful government long after they had been kicked out of the country, I'm not sure.
If the US is going to abandon the KMT, my guess is that soon after they're going to start trying heavily to push the PRC and the Soviet Union apart.
 
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