Last Bridge to China: The Shanghai Power Company, the Truman Administration and the Chinese Communists

Abstract

The records of the American-owned Shanghai Power Company (SPC) offer some significant insights into Sino-American relations during the critical period after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took control of China.1 The company’s correspondence tends to substantiate the position of those, such as John S. Service, who believed that the Chinese Communists desired American aid and cooperation.2 Shanghai Power’s experience under Communist rule for more than eighteen months from May 1949 to December 1950 indicate that the United States, not the CCP, was primarily responsible for closing the Open Door in China.3 The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) not only appeared willing to tolerate American firms for the short term but sought to establish some type of relationship with the United States until as late as January or February 1950.4 The Truman administration, pursuing a policy of containment, refused to deal with the Chinese Communists, except on its own terms, and attempted to control trade with the PRC in order to force compliance with American demands.5 Shanghai Power opposed the administration’s policies toward the Chinese Communists. Its president, Paul S. Hokins, argued that the United States government should negotiate with the CCP and that trade should be maintained between the two countries, even if it had to be continued on Communist terms. Finally, the evidence indicates that economic factors such as potential profits and protection of capital ranked high in the company’s decisions, but its officers, particularly Hopkins, showed a genuine concern for the welfare of Shanghai and its inhabitants.