The Stars And Stripes In China

This work is an account of the China edition of the U.S. Army's daily newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, which was geared toward service personnel in the China Theater of Operations at the end of World War II and published for nearly a year. The book addresses Japanese repatriations, war-crime trials, the Chinese civil war and the rise of Communism as covered by the paper, and the paper's role in strengthening U.S. troop morale.

This book examines China’s national security strategy by looking at the three major elements—foreign policy, energy security, and naval power—all interactive and major influences on China’s future and its relations with the United States. A decade and a half into the twenty-first century, Beijing requires reliable access to energy resources, the navy to defend that access, and foreign policies to navigate safely toward its goals. Most importantly, the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) must be able to safeguard China’s regional maritime interests, especially the sovereignty disputes involving Taiwan and the Yellow, East China, and South China Seas. Many Chinese naval officers and analysts think the United States is determined to contain China and prevent it from achieving the dominant historical position to which it is entitled. This view has been strengthened by Washington’s shift to Asia, transfer of naval units to the Pacific, and the March 2015 Maritime Strategy released by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. China’s relationship with the United States is vital to both countries and to the world. The relationship is based on both common and divergent interests in economics, military operations, and political goals and methods. China’s international trading economy and ambition for a world-class navy require effective foreign diplomacy and participation in global affairs. This policy trifecta in large part defines China’s posture to the world. Beijing is approximately halfway toward its mid-century goal of deploying a navy capable of defending China’s perceived maritime interests. China’s priorities follow President Xi Jinping’s definition of national security as “comprehensive, encompassing politics, the military, the economy, technology, the environment and culture.” What this means for future Chinese foreign policy choices, as naval modernization and energy security concerns enable different courses of action, lies at the center of this book’s conclusions.

The People’s Republic of China is the only large country in the world that does not have a “national” military; its military answers only to a political party, the Chinese Communist Party. For a brief period in the mid-twentieth century, China had the makings of a professional, apolitical military force. The Rise and Fall of an Officer Corps tells the story of that moment in the military history of modern China—how it came to be, why it ultimately failed, and what it meant for China at home and abroad. Between 1942 and 1955 a cadre of highly trained, nationalistic, and cosmopolitan Chinese officers created a professional, depoliticized military, a force that could effectively represent the aspirations of China as a world power. Drawing on multiple archival sources and Chinese military journals, author Eric Setzekorn charts the development of this new army as a critical cultural and political force with extensive connections to foreign powers. During this period, military officers were the primary actors in an intergovernmental partnership between the United States and the Republic of China. The partnership gave officers access to educational opportunities and technological transfers that were central to their professional ideals. Setzekorn’s account of the career of General Sun Li-jen, an American-educated Chinese army officer, illustrates the rise of this new sense of professionalism as well as its decline after 1953. Setzekorn then traces the failure of the army-building project to a renewed politicization of military forces, marked by a purge of key military leaders in 1955 by Chiang Kai-shek and his Koumintang (KMT) party. By focusing on this important chapter in Chinese military history, Setzekorn’s work also highlights broader patterns of military transformation during the pivotal period from World War II through the early Cold War. His work is critical to understanding the rise of China as a military and world power.

Doing business in China requires attention to a broad range of issues. While many executives focus on local conditions, others train their eyes on regional and national developments. By painting a picture of the entire Chinese landscape, this book provides western corporate decision makers with tools for crafting a sustainable China business strategy. The comprehensive analyses presented herein will not only enable business executives to rationalize their China investment but also help them communicate their China business plan to stakeholders, building corporate consensus and support. China Investment Environment & Strategies could be used to: Identify strategic options for the China market. Conduct comprehensive site selection analysis. Evaluate the viability of a China strategy. Convince skeptics of a China operation. Secure stakeholders' commitment to China business. Improve communications with Chinese partners and consumers. Companies owned by Chinese in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S. capitalize on cultural and historical affinity with China to build successful businesses there. By understanding the rules of engagement that these overseas Chinese follow, the odds of success for western companies in the China market will be improved.

The essays reprinted here trace the history of Chinese emigration into the Pacific region, first as individuals, traders or exiles, moving into the 'Nanyang' (Southeast Asia), then as a mass migration across the ocean after the mid-19th century. The papers include discussions of what it meant to be Chinese, the position of the migrants vis-à-vis China itself, and their relations with indigenous peoples as well as the European powers that came to dominate the region. Together with the introduction, they constitute an important aid to understanding one of the most widespread diasporas of the modern world.

This comprehensive treatment of post–World War II Allied war crimes trials in the Far East is a significant contribution to a neglected subject. While the Nuremberg and, to a lesser degree, Tokyo tribunals have received considerable attention, this is the first full-length assessment of the entire Far East operation, which involved some 5,700 accused and 2,200 trials. After discussing the Tokyo trial, Piccigallo systematically examines the operations of each Allied nation, documenting procedure and machinery as well as the details of actual trials (including hitherto unpublished photographs) and ending with a statistical summary of cases. This study allows a completely new assessment of the Far East proceedings: with a few exceptions, the trials were carefully and fairly conducted, the efforts of defense counsel and the elaborate review procedures being especially noteworthy. Piccigallo’s approach to this emotion-filled subject is straightforward and evenhanded throughout. He concludes with a discussion of the broader implications of such war crimes trials, a matter of interest to the general reader as well as to specialists in history, law, and international affairs.