Episode 19: The Rise of China and Korea

Profiles in Strategy

In this episode Jon O'Gorman hosts Andrew (Dex) Wilson, Nicholas Sarantakes, and Kristin Mulready-Stone to discuss China and Korea. They begin by discussing the warlord period of China as the stage setter for the Chinese civil war. They next move to the problems Chiang has in unifying the country vs. Mao and his easier path. They kick around the concept of how the context of the civil war matters to Mao's victory and how his three-phase model might not be the best insurgent theory in any other place but China. Additionally, it might not even have been how Mao won China exactly. They talk about Chinese and U.S. involvement in Korea and what it meant for Taiwan. Lastly, they end with contemporary relevance and why China is once again making Taiwan an issue in the international arena and how it has more to do with domestic control than unification.