8 Communism and the Cold War
On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of
China (PRC) and informed the world that: ‘Ours will no longer be a
nation subject to insult and humiliation. We have stood up.’^1 Victory
over the Nationalist forces of the Guomindang was all but complete.
Chiang Kaishek and his Nationalist government had fled to Taiwan. A
new and mighty communist state had been born, just days after the
Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear weapon, into a world already
deeply divided by the Cold War.
In Southeast Asia, Thailand had already reverted to military rule
and sought alliance with the new hegemonic power in the region, the
United States. Taking its lead from Washington, Bangkok continued
to recognise the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. So too did the
newly independent Philippines, also closely aligned with the US and
fighting its own communist insurgency. Independent Burma recog-
nised Beijing in December 1949, the first Asian state to do so despite
then combating both communist and ethnic Karen insurgencies. A
few months later, independent Indonesia also hesitantly recognised