The Withdrawal of Chinese (Nationalist) Troops from Burma (1953–1954)

Abstract

Following the defeat on the Chinese mainland of the National (or Kuomintang) Government in 1949 and its re-establishment on the offshore island of Taiwan (or Formosa), a number of its troops made their way into Burma and created a base for themselves near her border with Thailand. This was an area where Burma was already having trouble from Karen rebels, and she now alleged that they were being assisted by the Kuomintang forces. She took her complaint about the foreign military presence to the UN General Assembly and received a lot of sympathy, but little else. She therefore turned to the National Government’s friend and protector, the United States, for whom the matter was becoming, in a small way, something of an embarrassment. For here was one of her clients (who still occupied China’s permanent seat in the UN Security Council) giving a third world state a very reasonable cause for international complaint (see Map 32).