Editing Cold War (1948–1953) (section)

===Chinese Civil War===
{{Main|Chinese Civil War}}
As Japan's empire collapsed in 1945 the civil war resumed in China between the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) led by Generalissimo [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and the [[Chinese Communist Party]] led by [[Mao Zedong]]. The USSR had signed a Treaty of Friendship with the Kuomintang in 1945 and disavowed support for the Chinese Communists. The outcome was closely fought, with the Communists finally prevailing with superior military tactics. Although the Nationalists had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, initially controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries, and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|long war with Japan]] and the attendant internal responsibilities. In addition, the Chinese Communists were able to fill the political vacuum left in [[Manchuria]] after Soviet forces withdrew from the area and thus gained China's prime industrial base. The Chinese Communists were able to fight their way from the north and northeast, and virtually all of [[mainland China]] was taken by the end of 1949. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the [[People's Republic of China]] (PRC). Chiang Kai-shek and 600,000 Nationalist troops and 2 million refugees, predominantly from the government and business community, fled from the mainland to the island of [[Taiwan]]. In December 1949, Chiang proclaimed [[Taipei]] the temporary capital of the Republic of China (ROC) and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority in China.

The continued hostility between the Communists on the mainland and the Nationalists on Taiwan continued throughout the Cold War. Though the United States refused to aide Chiang Kai-shek in his hope to "recover the mainland," it continued supporting the Republic of China with military supplies and expertise to prevent Taiwan from falling into PRC hands. Through the support of the Western bloc (most Western countries continued to recognize the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China), the Republic of China on Taiwan retained [[China and the United Nations|China's seat in the United Nations]] until 1971.