Over the next three years, the MCP gradually shifted emphasis
from military to political struggle. By then it had been confined to
jungle bases in northern Malaya along the Thai border, and it was clear
that the insurgency could not succeed. The Korean War was at an end,
the Geneva conference had brought temporary peace to Indochina,
and Beijing had signalled a more amenable policy with respect to over-
seas Chinese. It was under these circumstances that the MCP called
for a political resolution of the emergency that would legalise the party.
Talks were held in December 1955, but as the MCP was reluctant to
surrender its weapons, nothing came of them. A complicating factor
from the point of view of the Malay political elite was what to do about
Singapore. The fear was that an independent Singapore, with its over-
whelmingly Chinese population and active left-wing unions, would
succumb to communism. The favoured solution was to merge Malaya,
Singapore and the British Borneo territories into a new political entity.
But when the Federation of Malaya obtained independence in August
1957, Singapore remained under British rule. Not surprisingly, the new
Malayan government made no move to enter into diplomatic relations
with Beijing.
The First Indochina War
The first significant move made by the PRC in its relations with
Southeast Asia came in January 1950, when China became the first
nation to recognise the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).
The Soviet Union followed suit, but the Chinese action was highly
significant for it served notice that, under appropriate circumstances,
the PRC would throw its support behind revolutionary independence
movements in Asia. In the case of Vietnam, there were good strate-
gic reasons for China to intervene. The Chinese leadership believed
their fledgling regime faced threats to its very existence from
Western imperialism poised to strike from Korea, Taiwan, and
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia