Ping Pong Diplomacy
1945
June 6 Delegates to the United Nations organizing conference sign the U.N. Charter, which makes the United States, Republic of China, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and France permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.


August 6 & 9 The U.S. drops atomic bombs on Japan thus opening the nuclear age.

August 14 Japan surrenders to Allies, ending World War II.

China and U.S.S.R. sign Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, pledging mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs for 30 years.

August 28 Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung and U.S. Ambassador to China Patrick Hurley enter talks with Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek over long-standing Communist-Nationalist struggle for control of China.

October 10 Nationalists and Communists issue joint statement of agreement, but fighting by both sides renders the agreement invalid within two weeks.

November 27 Hurley resigns to protest U.S. decision to end military aid to Chiang Kai-shek.Hurley also charges that pro-Communist State Department officials have undermined U.S. efforts to resolve the Communist-Nationalist conflict.

November 27 President Truman appoints General George C. Marshall as his special representative in China.

December 22 Marshall arrives in Chongqing to try to get the Communists and Nationalists to agree to a cease-fire and enter into a coalition government.
1946
January 10 A truce is reached between Communists and Nationalists, but fighting soon resumes.

June 7-30 Temporary truce between Communists and Nationalists.

July 1 Chinese civil war resumes.

October 1 Marshall informs President Chiang Kai-shek that he would recommend the ending of U.S. mediation efforts to President Truman unless "a basis for agreement is found . . . without further delay."

October 21 Peace talks resume in Nanjing.
November 8 Chiang Kai-shek orders Nationalist cease-fire.

November 19 Negotiations between Communists and Nationalists end. By the end of November, heavy fighting has resumed.
1947
January 7 Marshall returns to U.S. to become secretary of state after more than a year of failed mediation efforts in China.

January 29 United States announces end to its mediation efforts in China, and immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
1948
April 2 After supporting the Nationalist military since the 1930s, U.S. sharply cuts aid because of widespread corruption.
January 23 Beijing falls to the Communists after a month-long siege.
1949
June 15 With the Communists in control of several major cities, Mao Tse-tung states that he is willing to discuss establishing diplomatic relations with any foreign government, on "the basis of the principles of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty."

June 24 Twenty-one senators send a letter to President Truman urging him not to recognize the Chinese Communist regime.

August 5 State Department issues 1054-page White Paper detailing U.S. policy toward China from 1944 to 1949 to counter Republican charges that the Truman administration "lost" China to the Communists.

October 1 Inauguration of People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) with Chou En-lai as premier and foreign minister, and Mao Tse-tung as chief of state and Communist Party chairman.

October 2 U.S.S.R. recognizes the P.R.C. and severs relations with the Nationalist government.All other Soviet-bloc countries soon follow suit.

Dec. 8-10 Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist officials flee mainland China for the nearby island of Taiwan, where they install the exiled government of the Republic of China.