Chinese Grand Strategy
Explore the implications of China’s global rise for U.S. primacy and the liberal international order.
The highest grossing Chinese movie of all time is The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021), a three-hour film depicting the 17-day battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. It was financed as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda campaign leading up to the 100th anniversary of the Party’s founding.
While Chinese leaders still celebrate Mao Zedong’s decision to send “volunteers” to fight in Korea, in America—despite 40,000 killed and 100,000 wounded—the Korean War remains the “Forgotten War.” To understand why this war matters and why America’s foremost adversary thinks it matters, we will focus on T. R. Fehrenbach’s This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History. Fehrenbach, a World War II and Korean War veteran, originally published his work in 1963 with the subtitle “A Study in Unpreparedness.” It remains a perennial part of general officer reading lists and war college curricula.
We forget the Korean War at our own peril. As an early test of America’s ability to resist communist expansion in the old Cold War, and the last time American and Chinese troops met on the battlefield, the Korean War offers lessons for how we win the new Cold War (and ensure it stays cold). As an undeclared and unresolved war, a “police action” paused since 1953 by an armistice agreement, the Korean War should shed light on the growth of executive authority when it comes to Constitutional war powers and America’s often reluctant leadership of the Free World.
With Fehrenbach’s This Kind of War as our guide, we will use the early Cold War to better understand our present-day confrontation with China.
Rep. Gallagher Outlines Vision to Deter CCP Invasion of Taiwan
This course is part of our Security Studies Program. Fellows may apply to one or more seminars, as fits their interest and schedule.
Faculty
Mike Gallagher
Congressman Mike Gallagher served seven years on active duty as a Human Intelligence/Counterintelligence Officer and Regional Affairs Officer for the Middle East and North Africa, earning the rank of Captain. He was recently selected to serve as Chairman of the Select Committee on China.
Mike Gallagher
Congessman Mike Gallagher served for seven years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq. He also served as the lead Republican staffer for the Middle East and Counterterrorism on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and worked in the private sector at an energy and supply chain management company in Green Bay.
Mr. Gallagher was the honor graduate from The Basic School, the Marine Corps CI/HUMINT Basic Course, as well as the MAGTF Intelligence Officers Course. He earned a Ph.D. in International Relations from Georgetown University. Mike also earned a Master’s degree in Security Studies with honors from Georgetown and a Master’s of Science in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University with a focus on Near Eastern Studies and Arabic.
Aaron MacLean
Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Previously, he was senior foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Aaron served on active duty as a U.S. Marine for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer in 2009–2010.
Aaron MacLean
Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Previously, he was senior foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Aaron served on active duty as a U.S. Marine for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer in 2009–2010. Following his time in the operating forces, he was assigned to the faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was the 2013 recipient of the Apgar Award for Excellence in Teaching. Aaron received a B.A. in philosophy and the history of math and science from St. John’s College, Annapolis, and an M.Phil. (Dist.) in medieval Arabic thought from the University of Oxford. He has been a Boren Scholar and a Marshall Scholar and lives in Virginia, where he was born.
Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session
Revolution & Containment
Readings:
- T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War, pp. 3–61
- NSC-68
- Dean Acheson, “Crisis in Asia—An Examination of U.S. Policy”
- Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia, A Misunderstood Friendship, pp. 27–34
Discussion Questions:
- What are the main elements of the grand strategy laid out in NSC-68, and what attitude does this document take to the use of military force?
- What are the main elements of America’s policy in Asia at the start of 1950, and in Korea?
- What are Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean interests with regard to an invasion of South Korea?
- How, only 8.5 years after Pearl Harbor, is America surprised by North Korea in June 1950?
- Why does the Truman Administration decide to intervene, and how does it explain its intervention?
Catastrophe & Recovery I
Readings:
- T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War, pp. 34–179
- Douglas MacArthur, Remarks in Seoul, September 29, 1950
Discussion Questions:
- What are the principal factors in the failures of the 24th Infantry Division in the summer of 1950, beginning with Task Force Smith?
- Is there a difference between how U.S. Army and U.S. Marine infantrymen perform that summer? What is the reason for the difference?
- What is the “American Way of War” in Fehrenbach’s view, and how does it manifest itself (or not) in Korea?
- How do North Korean tactics differ from American tactics? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Communist forces?
Catastrophe & Recovery II
Readings:
- T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War, pp. 180–334
- Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia, A Misunderstood Friendship, pp. 34–59
- Matthew Ridgeway, Memorandum for Commanders, January 21, 1951
Discussion Questions:
- Why do U.N. forces cross the 38th Parallel? What are the benefits and risks of this action?
- How, only five months after the strategic surprise of the summer, is America again surprised by Chinese intervention? How are American troops again dealt tactical and operational defeats?
- What are the main elements of the dispute between MacArthur and Truman? Is Truman right to fire MacArthur? Questions of authority aside, who has the better arguments regarding policy?
- How is the Chinese intervention ultimately checked?
Fight Fight, Talk Talk
Readings:
- T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War, pp. 337–451
- Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia, A Misunderstood Friendship, pp. 67–76
- Dwight Eisenhower, Remarks in Detroit, October 24, 1952
Discussion Questions:
- How and why do the combatants commence armistice talks in the summer of 1951? How does each side conceptualize the nature of such talks? What are each side’s objectives?
- What have the Chinese lost and gained through their intervention?
- What do the Communist powers lose and gain during the new phase of the war that the talks initiate? How does the character of the fighting change?
- How do the two sides conceive of the treatment of POWs? What role does this issue play in the armistice talks? What does the Communist approach to the POW issue, in particular, tell us about their broader conception of political warfare?
- How does the ongoing war affect the election of 1952? How does the change in administrations affect the conduct of the war? How is a ceasefire secured?
Legacies
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- Why have Americans apparently “forgotten” the Korean War? What lessons might we have forgotten as a result?
- Why and how do the Chinese remember the Korean War? What have they “learned” from it?
