| Περίληψη: | In China between Peace and War, Victor S. C. Cheng explores the
gripping history of peace talks and international negotiations from 1945 to 1947
that helped determine the shape of the Chinese Civil War. The book focuses on
the efforts of the two belligerent parties—the Chinese Nationalists, or
Guomindang, and the Communists—to achieve an enduring peace. It presents
previously unexplored major elements of the peace talks: ambiguous treaties,
package deals and short-term solutions. It identifies the burning challenges
that confronted attempts at peacemaking, including the two warring parties'
high-risk decision-making styles and the temptation to veto agreements and
resume fighting. Cheng argues against popular notions that differences between
the two belligerents in the Chinese Civil War were irreconcilable, that the
failure of the peace talks was predetermined and that the US government
mediators needed to remain neutral. Because the actions around the negotiating
table occurred in a developing theatre of war, Cheng also explores the military
decision-making of the opposing sides as well as the conflicts that ultimately
plunged China into the world’s largest military engagement of the seven-plus
decades since World War II. China between Peace and War highlights the
contradictory role of political leaders who micromanaged the military, including
their struggle to connect political objectives and military power, their
rhetorical use of the 'decisive war’ concept, and their pursuit of radical
military-political goals at the expense of a negotiated peace.
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