China's Foreign Policy Part 4, 1975-1989: Reaping the Whirlwind
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2021
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today's episode is the fourth in a multi-part series that takes an in-depth look at the history of China's foreign policy. At a time when U.S. imperialism seemed to be in complete and utter decline following its defeat in Southeast Asia, and with revolution spreading from Africa to Iran to Nicaragua, the United States enters into a de-facto alliance with China and facilitates the integration of China into the world economy. Brian and Prof. Kenneth Hammond also discuss China's invasion of Vietnam in 1979, Gorbachev taking power in the Soviet Union and introducing far reaching reforms, the arms race initiated by the U.S. that brings the world to the brink of nuclear war, the counter-revolutionary wave that sweeps the governments of Eastern Europe, and how China was confronted with the prospect of a counter-revolution in a 7-week long standoff in Tiananmen Square that ends with the suppression of that movement.
Brian is joined by Kenneth Hammond, a Professor of East Asian and Global History at New Mexico State University and an activist with the organization Pivot to Peace.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today we continue our in-depth series on China's foreign policy since the 1949 revolution. |
| 0:09.7 | We will pick up where we left off. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger have come to China. |
| 0:17.9 | Nixon has been evicted from office, resigning rather than being impeached. |
| 0:23.6 | Gerald Ford comes to China in Nixon's stead and resumes the process of normalization |
| 0:30.6 | of relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. |
| 0:36.6 | We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded |
| 0:43.2 | impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. |
| 0:49.5 | Music Welcome to The Real Story on The Socialist Program. I'm your host, Brian Becker. If you |
| 1:17.7 | enjoy the show, please show your support for independent programming by going to patreon.com |
| 1:23.3 | forward slash the socialist program and subscribing. |
| 1:30.4 | We can do this with you, but not without you. |
| 1:33.8 | We are joined once again by Dr. Ken Hammond, |
| 1:38.6 | professor of East Asian and global history at New Mexico State University. |
| 1:46.3 | Ken is also the founding director of the Confucius Institute at New Mexico State University, and an activist and organizer with the Peace Group, Pivot to Peace. |
| 1:50.0 | Ken Hammond, welcome back. |
| 1:52.0 | Glad to be back. Good to carry on the conversation. |
| 1:54.0 | Yes, we're very happy that we're able to do this in-depth examination of the different stages and phases of China's foreign |
| 2:02.8 | policy as it emerged following the 1949 revolution. |
| 2:08.0 | In summary, again, we have the period of the 1950s where China is part of a central part |
| 2:16.0 | of the second most important part of the socialist bloc that |
| 2:20.5 | was led by the Soviet Union and anchored by the Soviet Union, but included the governments |
| 2:26.1 | of Eastern Europe, the central and Eastern European socialist governments, also the government |
... |
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