A Hobson’s choice : the recognition question in Canada-China relations, 1949-1950 ...

• Main Author: Leiren, Olaf Hall
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0089444; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0089444

This paper examines events surrounding Canada's negotiations on the question of recognizing the People's Republic of China in 1949 and 1950, and the reasons why the negotiations failed. The focus is on the work of officials in the Canadian Embassy in Nanking and External Affairs in Ottawa, particularly External Affairs Minster Lester B. Pearson. Both Nanking and External Affairs, Ottawa, strove to promote recognition, which was approved in principal by the Canadian government but never actualized. Pearson and his department, spurred by Canadian officials on the ground in China, chiefly Ambassador T. C. Davis and his second-in-command, China specialist Chester Ronning, favoured early recognition, as a means of influencing the Communist government away from total dependence on the Soviet Union. The Canadian government weighed the desirability of recognition against what it saw as the necessity of solidarity of the North Atlantic alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States, in particular, against ...