Some time ago, such an intriguing post appeared on Quora in the United States. An American netizen asked us in the post: Historically, the United States has helped China a lot many times, returned Gengzi reparations, confronted the Japanese aggressors head-on, and supported China's entry into normalcy, each time at the most critical moment, but why did Chinese not appreciate it? And is it really what he says? Let's analyze them one by one.
Help 1: Return Gengzi compensation
The first mentioned is the "Xinxiu Treaty", in 1900 the Boxers stormed the embassies of various countries in China, and the great powers used this as an excuse to launch the "Eight-Power Alliance War of Aggression against China", and in the end, the Qing government was forced to sign the "Xinxiu Treaty" that lost power and humiliated the country.
The American netizen said that during the negotiation of the signing of the treaty, the great powers advocated direct occupation of China's territory and resources, and the United States prevented this from happening, protected the integrity of China's territory, and founded a number of universities to transmit Western knowledge and ideas.
If it is true as he said, it will indeed help China a lot. However, the fact is that the United States at that time had just become independent, the weakest one among the Western powers, and the least contributor in the war of aggression against China, if according to the other powers, the land and resources divided will also be the least, so instead of dividing land and resources, it is better to "open the door and share benefits", requiring China to open its foreign trade portal and share commercial interests, so that they can obtain a lot of wealth from the whole of China like other countries.
As for the war reparations, they were given very little, and the Qing government at that time could not take the money itself. So from the perspective of the United States, if they want to get a piece of the big cake of China, the most effective way is "cultural invasion". That is, to establish universities, fund international students, and by constantly instilling American ideas, demeaning China, and launching ideological aggression, and at the same time introducing a large number of talents from various fields of China into the United States, and finally let us say "thank you", which can be described as killing three birds with one stone.
In short, the United States is not to help China return reparations, build schools, and cultivate talents, but based on its own interests, "put a long line to catch big fish."
Help two: the War of Resistance Against Japan
The second was the War of Resistance Against Japan. During World War II, the United States first sent the Chennault Flying Tigers to China to help the Chinese Air Force train pilots and fight directly with the Japanese Air Force, while also allowing us to borrow money to buy American fighter jets to increase our air combat capabilities.
Since then, the United States has repeatedly provided various types of assistance to China through the Lend-Lease Act, with a total value of about $1.627 billion. In August 1945, the US military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender unconditionally to the United States, China and Britain, and World War II came to an end.
In fact, in the early days of World War II, the United States held an attitude of not caring about itself, remained neutral and did not enter the war, and even did not refuse when Japan purchased military supplies from it in the early stage. Before December 1941, the United States lent Japan six times as much as it did to China, and all kinds of military strategic material assistance far exceeded those given to China. It was only when Japan's invasion of Southeast Asia, which already threatened American interests in the Pacific, that they began to stop all cooperation with Japan.
As for the so-called Flying Tigers who assisted, they are just mercenaries, an ordinary aircraft ground crew earns $300 a month, and the fighter aircraft purchased are far more than double the market price, which is completely in this way to obtain China's wealth and make a fortune in war.
According to the Lend-Lease Act during World War II, U.S. aid to China accounted for only 4% of U.S. aid to other countries, which is very small for the huge Chinese theater, and most of it was swallowed up by the government from top to bottom, and only a handful were used on the battlefield.
As for dropping the atomic bomb, it was due to the gradual deterioration of relations between the United States and Japan, the repeated refusal of the United States to help them, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which forced the United States to join the ranks of World War II. The dropping of atomic bombs on Japan was firstly to hasten Japan's surrender and avoid unnecessary casualties, and secondly to make Japan surrender to the United States, not the Soviet Union.
Help 3: Get into normal
Finally, the United States supports China's membership in the permanent membership of the United Nations. At the end of World War II, the three giants initially established the framework for maintaining order after the war through the Yalta Conference, while Roosevelt's vision of a world police system was to make the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and China permanent members.
At that time, the reason why the United States insisted on adding a China to the pattern of the Big Three was actually to hope that China would contain the Soviet Union in the north and at the same time suppress the British and French colonies in the south. On the other hand, in order to stabilize its position in Europe, the British Empire, which had set the sun, also decided to put France, the second in charge, to the throne, and this was the prototype of the five permanent members of the United Nations. To put it bluntly, everyone is for their own interests to let others in to play, not to invite them sincerely.
Later, New China was founded. However, just as China's new regime was preparing to inherit the legitimate seat of the previous regime, it was blocked by the old Chiang Kai-shek in the south, and the United States postponed the restoration of China's legitimate seat with the case of "China's invasion of Korea", and this delay was another 10 years.
In 1971, on the "Two Arab Proposals" of the United Nations, China returned to the United Nations with an overwhelming majority of 76 votes in favor, 35 votes against and 17 abstentions, and became a permanent member. Of those 35 negative votes, the United States was one of them. On the other hand, we do have to thank our African brothers, and the Soviet Big Brother, who voted three times by one, and the Europeans.
In short, the so-called repeated "help" of the United States to China is just the result of profit driven, so how can such hypocrisy make China, as a country of etiquette, sincerely grateful?