Diplomatic struggle on the issue of the liberation of Burma from the Japanese invaders (1942-1943)

The authors focus on the impact of the difficulties in inter-allied relations during World War II on the recovery of ground communications between the Western Allies and the Chiang Kai-shek Government-controlled part of China in order to deliver military and economic aid to the latter. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between the issue of assistance to the Government of Chiang Kai-shek from the United States and the problem of Burma's liberation from the Japanese and its impact on US-Chinese relations at the decisive stage of the war. Much attention is paid to the role of Great Britain in addressing this issue, the leadership of which feared that the rapprochement between the US and China could lead to a decrease in the authority of the British Empire in Asia and the loss of its position in the Far East, which made the situation even more acute. The relevance of the research subject is determined by the importance of Chinese front in Allied strategy during the initial period of the anti-Japanese war, the importance of cooperation between the US and China for the American post-war reconstruction plans in the Far East, and the growing role of China in world politics. The principles of historicism, objectivity and causality served as a methodological basis of this article. The originality of the study is based on the involvement of a large number of historical sources which were not previously involved or involved insufficiently by Soviet and Russian scholars, such as, for example, documents of the US Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall, a number of the documents of the US State Department, memoirs and diaries of Henry Stimson, the generals Henry Arnold, Albert Wedemeyer, George Stilwell, Claire Chennault et al.; it is based as well on comprehensive analysis of political and military cooperation between Washington and the Government of Chiang Kai-shek. The authors come to the conclusion that there were sharp differences between the United States, Britain, and China on almost all issues related to the provision of assistance to the Government of Chiang Kai-shek and the liberation of Burma for this purpose, which has led to the transfer of a practical solution of this problem on the final stage of the war with Japan, causing permanent friction between the US and China due to the failure to deliver economic and military aid to China in sufficient volumes, to the failure of the Chinese armed forces to conduct active offensive operations and to the reduction in the strategic importance of the Chinese front as a result of decisions taken at the Cairo and Teheran conferences.

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