The Abrogation of the Unequal Treaties and the Redefinition of China's Role in the US Political and Military Strategy (1942-1944)

The article examines the evolution of the American policy towards China during World War II caused by the needs of the war itself and by changes in the alignment of forces in the international arena during the war years. The far-reaching policy, in particular, the plans of the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration for the post-war reconstruction in the Far East, played a significant role in these changes, an important role assigned to the Chinese government headed by Chiang Kai-shek. Thus, owing to the efforts of the American leadership, China was recognized as a great power which, in accordance with Roosevelt's plans, had to play one of the key roles in global politics after the victory over the Axis powers. In this capacity, Chinese representatives participated in a number of international conferences that laid the foundations for the post-war world order. However, these changes in the international position of China were incompatible with the elements of its semi-colonial status inherited from the preceding decades, such as the operation of unequal treaties which to a large extent determined China's relations with the United States and the UK, and with the elements of racial discrimination against ethnic Chinese manifested in the adoption of an exclusive law against Chinese immigration to America in 1882. As a result, the issue of the abrogation of these treaties and discriminatory restrictions against the Chinese was put on the agenda, which was implemented in 1942-43. The study is based on a wide range of published historical sources, such as collections of documents on the US foreign policy in the period under review, hearings before the US Congress on the foreign policy matters of the war years, memoirs of a number of key figures that determined the US policy towards China during the war, and some others. Without denying the favorable results of the measures taken by the Roosevelt Administration towards China, it is concluded that they were contradictory in their nature, which was partly expressed by the fact that the units of the US Army deployed on the Chinese front were completely excluded from the Chinese legislation thus retaining the extraterritoriality rights abolished in respect of civilians. Also indicative was the discriminatory size of the quota for Chinese immigrants in America established after the repeal of the exclusive law and effective until the mid-1960s, which clearly violated the US Immigration Act of 1924. This situation was possible as a result of China's economic backwardness and internal political weakness, which, under the circumstances, inevitably led to its weakness in international politics.

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