Colloquium on Contemporary History June 20, 1990 No. 3
OPENING REMARKS by Dr. Edward J. Marolda Head, Contemporary History Branch Naval Historical Center
The title of today's colloquium is "A New Equation: Chinese Intervention into the Korean War." Why should we be concerned with an event that occurred almost forty years ago in a conflict that Clay Blair has labeled the Forgotten War? There are many reasons, but a primary one has to be that Chinese intervention into the war strongly influenced how the United States and the People's Republic of China would approach Far Eastern security concerns for at least the next twenty years. 今天座談會的題目是「一個新的方程式:中國對朝鮮戰爭的干預」。。我們為什麼要關注近四十年前克萊·布萊爾將這場被貼上「被遺忘的戰爭」標籤的衝突中發生的事件呢?原因有很多,但主要原因必須是中國對戰爭的干預對美國和中華人民共和國至少在未來二十年內如何解決遠東安全問題產生了強烈影響。
The massive size of the Chinese Red Army, and the skill with which it forced United Nations forces to withdraw from the frozen hills of North Korea, persuaded American leaders that they faced a major military power. Thereafter, successive U.S. administrations focused on preventing full-scale armed confrontation with Chinese Communist forces, especially on the mainland of Asia. Truman gave up earlier thoughts of unifying Korea under a Western banner; Eisenhower passed on the French invitation to Dien Bien Phu and he kept Chiang Kai-shek "leashed;" and Presidents Kennedy and Johnson spared no effort to avoid provoking Chinese intervention into the Southeast Asian conflict. 中國紅軍規模龐大,以及迫使聯合國部隊從北韓冰凍的山丘上撤出的技巧,使美國領導人相信他們面臨著一個強大的軍事力量。此後,歷屆美國政府都致力於防止與中共軍隊,特別是亞洲大陸的全面武裝對抗。杜魯門放棄了先前在西方旗幟下統一朝鮮的想法:艾森豪威爾轉達了法國對丁碧芬的邀請,他讓蔣介石"脫胎無遺",甘迺迪總統和詹森總統不遺餘力地避免激怒中國對東南亞衝突的干預。
At the same time, the government in Peking learned from its experience in Korea that American naval, air, and ground forces, equipped with an arsenal of lethal weapons, could exact a heavy toll of Chinese lives and resources. This knowledge fostered Communist restraint during the Sino-American confrontations over the Tachen Islands in 1955, Quemoy and Matsu in 1958, and Southeast Asia in the 1960s. 與此同時,北京政府從韓國的經驗中瞭解到,美國海軍、空軍和地面部隊裝備了一批致命武器,可能會給中國人帶來重大的生命和資源損失。在1955年中美對塔琴群島、1958年奎莫伊島和馬祖島以及60年代東南亞的對抗中,這些知識培養了共產黨的克制。