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China in Anglo-American relations: the Cairo Conference, November 22–26 and December 2–7, 1943

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Abstract

China’s participation in the Cairo Conference in late November and early December 1943 served as a highwater mark for China’s diplomatic standing during World War Two. Spurred by President Roosevelt’s wish to elevate China and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek’s international standing to one of the “Big Four” allies along with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Chiang sought to make the most of his first, and only, appearance on the international war-time stage by pressing for China’s interests to be addressed. Assisted by American General Joseph Stilwell, Chiang pushed for the Americans and British to commit to a major military operation in Burma in addition to a long list of requests. However much Roosevelt wished to honor the Chinese requests, he came up against British resistance, and although, by this time, the Americans were contributing far more to the fighting of the war, the relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill, between the Americans and the British, took precedence over any and all Chinese needs. Cairo may have marked the peak of China’s international influence during the war, but it failed to overcome the far greater bond that connected the USA and Great Britain.

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Notes

  1. Taylor, [11, 254]. The important financial issue refers to a $1 billion loan request that Chiang sought.

  2. Taylor, 256.

  3. British Pathé News [1]. Accessed at http://fod.infobase.com.libproxy.ung.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=38536.

  4. Bryant [2, 492].

  5. Churchill [3 329].

  6. Thorne [12, 319].

  7. Sherwood [9, 771].

  8. Churchill, Closing the Ring, 328.

  9. Tuchman [13, 397].

  10. Tuchman, 393–397; quote is from 397.

  11. Hurley to FDR, November 20, 1943, Foreign Relations of the USA (hereafter FRUS) [4, 102–103].

  12. FDR to Churchill, November 10, 1943, FRUS, 172.

  13. Stettinius to FDR, October 30, 1943, FRUS 129.

  14. Harriman to the President, November 4, 1943, FRUS, 152–153.

  15. Kennedy, [5, 354–355].

  16. Stilwell [10, 264].

  17. Stilwell, 265.

  18. Bryant, 505–506.

  19. Stillwell to Chiang, November 1943, FRUS, 159–160.

  20. Memorandum by the Generalissimo’s Chief of Staff (Stilwell), Role of China in Defeat of Japan, November 22, 1943, FRUS, 370–371.

  21. Memorandum by the British Chiefs of Staff, November 24, 1943, FRUS, 390.

  22. “Boundaries of Southeast Asia Command” Memorandum by the US Chiefs of Staff, November 24, 1943, FRUS, 391.

  23. Report by the Joint Staff of Planners, November 11, 1943, FRUS, 187.

  24. Thorne, 339.

  25. “The China and South East Asia Theaters: Some Political Considerations” Memorandum by Lieutenant General Stilwell’s Political Adviser (J. P. Davies), November 22, 1943, FRUS, 372.

  26. Thorne, 318.

  27. Thorne, 314.

  28. Thorne, 315.

  29. Thorne, 315.

  30. Minutes of the President’s Meeting with the JCS aboard the Iowa in the president’s cabin, November 15, 1943, FRUS, 198–199.

  31. Roosevelt [8, 155].

  32. Roosevelt, 156.

  33. Thorne, 320.

  34. Thorne, 315.

  35. Roosevelt, 159.

  36. Roosevelt, 160.

  37. Taylor, 252.

  38. Thorne, 322.

  39. Letter, Mme. Chiang to FDR, November 26, 1943, FRUS, 442.

  40. Hefferman, 117.

  41. Tuchman, 407.

  42. Tuchman, 409.

  43. Meeting of the Combined Chiefs of Staff with Roosevelt and Churchill, December 4, 1943, FRUS, 676.

  44. FRUS, 678.

  45. Leahy [6, 213].

  46. Sherwood, 772.

  47. Combined Chiefs Meeting, December 4, 1943, FRUS, 679.

  48. Leahy, 202.

  49. Combined Chiefs Meeting, December 4, 1943, FRUS, 680.

  50. Combined Chiefs Meeting, December 4, 1943, FRUS, 681.

  51. Leahy, 213.

  52. Sherwood, 771.

  53. Hefferman, 159.

  54. Letter, FDR to H.H. Kung, November 26, 1943, FRUS, 441.

  55. Hefferman, 159.

  56. Hefferman, 159.

  57. Taylor, 256.

  58. Romanus and Sunderland [7, 53].

  59. Romanus and Sunderland, 55.

  60. Hefferman, 169.

  61. Thorne, 324.

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  1. University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, USA

    T. Christopher Jespersen

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Correspondence to T. Christopher Jespersen.

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Jespersen, T.C. China in Anglo-American relations: the Cairo Conference, November 22–26 and December 2–7, 1943. J Transatl Stud 18, 1–18 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42738-019-00038-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s42738-019-00038-6

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