Disir
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Few would deny that U.S.-China relations are the worst they have been in years. A relationship that was already in trouble has foundered on the shoals of the trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic, and talk of decoupling.
This is not the first time that the pendulum has swung toward confrontation after an era of relatively congenial relations. Periods of hostility also followed the Sino-U.S. alliance of the 1940s and the rapprochement euphoria of the 1970s and ‘80s.
The Korean War (1950-53), which began 70 years ago today, sealed that first Washington-Beijing split and ushered in two decades of estrangement. Considering how tragic that war was – and the extent to which its legacies still haunt Northeast Asia – it is worth reflecting on how collective memory of it shapes perspectives on the present and the future. That the war is remembered very differently in China, and that these memories reflect differing visions of U.S.-China relations and the destiny of the Asia-Pacific, is a lesson that Americans ignore at their peril.
You know, one of the things that I never considered is how or what China teaches about the Korean War.
This is not the first time that the pendulum has swung toward confrontation after an era of relatively congenial relations. Periods of hostility also followed the Sino-U.S. alliance of the 1940s and the rapprochement euphoria of the 1970s and ‘80s.
The Korean War (1950-53), which began 70 years ago today, sealed that first Washington-Beijing split and ushered in two decades of estrangement. Considering how tragic that war was – and the extent to which its legacies still haunt Northeast Asia – it is worth reflecting on how collective memory of it shapes perspectives on the present and the future. That the war is remembered very differently in China, and that these memories reflect differing visions of U.S.-China relations and the destiny of the Asia-Pacific, is a lesson that Americans ignore at their peril.
‘The War to Resist America’: How China Remembers the Korean War
It may be “the forgotten war” in the U.S., but the Korean War is far from forgotten in China.
thediplomat.com
You know, one of the things that I never considered is how or what China teaches about the Korean War.
