When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Episode 10: Sino-American Talks Part 2 concludes our take on where the Sino-American diplomacy led as 1949 became 1950. It provides a crucial bit of background to how the US reacted to the actual signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty, so make sure you have a listen in, and as always, be sure to let me know what you all thought!The increasing supremacy of the communists, as well as the difficulties posed by the British, were among the complications that the Truman administration faced when its face, Dean Acheson, (pictured here at work with NATO) attempted to continue with the wedge approach. As we learned last time, Acheson believed that only by accepting the facts of the day and abandoning the doomed Chiang Kai-shek could US interests in Asia and across the world be upheld. Unless America abandoned Chiang, it could never pose as a friend to Mao, and thus Acheson attempted, in a last ditch effort in autumn 1949, to be that friend.Mao was in indeed looking for a friend, but as we have learned, Acheson's efforts ca