May 1949

Nationalist Chinese forces led by Chiang Kai-shek retreated from mainland China to Formosa. Mao Tse-tung and the communist People's Liberation Army had fought against Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government since the 1920's. When Japan invaded China in the 1930's, the two parties made a pact to defend China from its invader. Civil war erupted again after the end of World War II. After Mao's victory, the United States refused to recognize the People's Republic of China. In August 1949, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson wrote in the China White Paper, "the Communist regime serves not (Chinese) interests but those of Soviet Russia."