杜魯門政府時期援華政策之決策過程研究(1948-1949)

Abstract

During the period of 1948 to 1949, the ruling Nationalist government and Chinese Communists turned China into another battlefield by fighting to win the civil war. The Truman administration played a critical role during the civil war, due to U.S. continuous support for the Nationalists since World War II (WWII). However, as the Nationalists suffered from series of defeat that led to the Chinese Communists victory of the civil war in 1949, the U.S. began to shift its assistance towards the Nationalists that left great impact on Truman administration’s decision towards China aid policy and its relationship with the Nationalist government. The thesis uses the decision-making theory of Graham Allison to analyze the main factors that caused the Truman administration to consider further assistance towards the Nationalist. By implementing the three main models of the theory: Rational Actor Model (RAM), the Organizational Behavior Model and the Governmental Politics Model, the thesis is based on this structure to discuss influential factors of 1948 China Aid Act and 1949 China White Paper and to explore the conflict and leading figures within the decision-making process. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate whether the U.S. decision will continue to support the defeated Nationalist government or began to withdraw its assistance for the Nationalists, due to U.S. interests concern. This decision undoubtedly arouse many debates within the White House, Congress, State Department, and the Nationalist government that finally led to the final release of the disputed China White Paper in 1949. At this point, the U.S. not only presented an adjustment and redefinition of aid to China but also indicated changes for its support to the Nationalist as well as the overall U.S policy in East Asia. The use of the decision- making theory also seek to prove the theme of the thesis which is Truman administration decision to shift its China aid policy by gradually disengaging from, instead of fully involving in China, as to lessen support for the Nationalist government during the period from 1948 to 1949.