Liberal Imperialism: The Rise and Fall of Liberal Internationalism in U.S. - China Relations and the Origins of the Cold War, 1898-1945.

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the rise and fall of liberal internationalism in U.S.-China relations from the late-nineteenth century until the end of WWII. I argue that framing the history of U.S.-China relations in this way illustrates the centrality of both the early-twentieth century and China to the origins of the global Cold War, and shows that the degree to which the U.S. conformed to, or veered away from, the ideals of liberal internationalism aid us in our understanding of the dynamics of U.S. imperialism during the twentieth century. The project traces a genealogy of the Cold War back to the late-nineteenth century, and locates its antecedents in new and interesting places and historical formations. This dissertation sheds light on critical aspects of the transnational history of the twentieth-century, and highlights the historical inseparability of race, empire, social and political movements, and international relations. Chapter 2 examines the transformation of Chinese conceptions of time and history in the late-nineteenth century from a cyclical mode to a linear one, and argues that this was critical for the emergence of China into a modern system of nation states. Chapter 3 argues that the American missionary enterprise in China was both imperialist and liberatory; by introducing Western liberal ideas into China, it ultimately sowed the seeds of its own undoing. Chapter 4 maps the origins and rise of Chinese anti-communism, and chapter 5 illustrates how U.S. attempts to bring the CCP and KMT together were doomed because of the dynamics of Chiang Kai-shek’s fanatical anti-communism. It also suggests that the wartime U.S. intelligence organization, SACO, provided the model for U.S.-supported Third World anti-communist insurgencies during the Cold War. Chapter 6 examines the international debates over the repeal of Chinese exclusion in the U.S., and suggests that exploring the dynamic political scene in China during that time as part of the repeal debate enlarges its traditional role beyond that of a minor episode in Asian American history. The final chapter examines the failure of U.S.-China diplomacy during the late-war years, and argues that it paved the way for McCarthyism.