Dear Brad,
Many thanks - most informative : I did not know about Churchill’s speech of November 17, 1949. But how sincere could he be,
knowing that by stipulating United States approval as a precondition, he was de facto "ditching" the proposal ? We will of course
never know . . .
I knew that China was not represented, but I did not know that it was the only one with Mongolia (a "satellite", I suppose - to
use the vocabulary of the time). Again, many thanks for the information.
A.C.
========
From: Brad Tolppanen
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2015 8:23 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ChurchillChat] Churchill's recognition of the People's Republic
of China ?
Antoine,
Cameron was probably referring to Churchill’s support for recognition of China in a speech made in the House of Commons on
November 17, 1949. He supported recognition, but only after consultations with the Commonwealth and the United States. In 1951
Churchill criticized the Attlee government’s recognition of China as it was not “brought about as a joint policy with the United
States and the Dominions.”
China, for its part, was the only country to refuse to be represented at Churchill’s funeral. As I detail in my series of blog
posts on Churchill’s death, lying-in-state, and funeral, China and Mongolia were the only countries not represented out of the 113
countries that were invited. The Mongolian government, however, expressed regret that it was unable to provide a representative to
attend. Additionally, while every newspaper in the world on January 25, 1965 provided extensive coverage of Churchill’s death, the
People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reported the death with one brief paragraph near the bottom
of the back page.
Brad
https://winstonchurchillblog.wordpress.com/
https://churchillinnorthamerica.wordpress.com/
On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 10:09 AM, 'Antoine Capet' via ChurchillChat
<[email protected]> wrote:
The Daily Mail website (among many others, no doubt), gives a video of D. Cameron's speech at Westminster on the occasion of the
50th anniversary of Churchill's funeral yesterday :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2932752/Sir-Winston-Churchill-great-Briton-owe-huge-debt-gratitude-says-Cameron-ahead-day-commemoration-50th-anniversary-wartime-leader-s-funeral.html
I was surprised to hear him say that it was Churchill who recognised the People's Republic of China. I always thought it was the
post-war Labour Government, to protect the British presence in Hong Kong.
I checked on Wikipedia :
6 January 1950 - The United Kingdom recognises the PRC as the government of China and posts a chargé d'affaires ad interim in
Beijing (Peking). The British expect a rapid exchange of Ambassadors. However, the PRC demands concessions on the Chinese seat at
the UN and the foreign assets of the Republic of China.
[Churchill of course was still Leader of the Opposition on 6 January 1950]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93United_Kingdom_relations#Between_the_UK_and_the_People.27s_Republic_of_China_.281949_-_.29
Who is right ? Cameron (who no doubt has the best experts in the Foreign Office
to brief him) or Wikipedia ?
Thanks to all for any enlightenment,
Antoine CAPET, FRHistS
Professor emeritus of British Studies
University of Rouen
76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan
France
[email protected]
'Britain since 1914' Section Editor
Royal Historical Society Bibliography
Reviews Editor of CERCLES
http://www.cercles.com/review/reviews.html
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