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Britain's China Policy and the Communists, 1942 to 1946: The Role of Ambassador Sir Horace Seymour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Shian Li
Shian Li
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Extract

British diplomatic contacts with Mao Tze-tung and the communists during the war and immediately after from 1944 to 1946 have remained unresearched by western historians, their significance unrecognized. While Chinese—American relations during the Second World War have attracted wide attention among scholars, many aspects of the Sino-British relationship still remain totally unexamined. This reflects the premise that Britain played only a minor role in shaping Chinese attitudes towards the western powers during the period. In fact, Britain significantly influenced the future of Chinese-Western relations.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , February 1992 , pp. 49 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

I am grateful to Professor J. A. S. Grenville for his guidance and advice.Google Scholar

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3 FO371/35777; F644/74/10, Seymour, to Eden, 29 Dec. 1942.Google Scholar

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32 Seymour's papers are kept in the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. They contain private letters and are particularly useful for throwing more personal light on the political leaderships of Kuomintang and the communist party and the press and supplement the official correspondence in the Public Record Office. They also reveal the significant role of Lady Seymour in facilitating good Anglo-Chinese relations. [Hereafter], Seymour Papers, 3/3, Churchill Archive Centre. The first 3 representatives file number; the second 3, document number.Google Scholar

33 Seymour Papers, 3/3, Churchill Archive Centre.Google Scholar

34 Ibid., 4/2.