Editor's Note

This issue begins with an article by Tao Wang, who reassesses the policy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the landmark 1954 conference in Geneva. The multilateral gathering was convened to deal with unresolved matters left over from the Korean War and to discuss the status of Indochina, where an armed uprising by Communist Viet Minh guerrillas against the French occupation was reaching its climax. By the time the deliberations over Indochina began, France's war effort had collapsed at Dien Bien Phu, and the Viet Minh were eager to continue fighting to seize the whole of Indochina. Wang argues that Chinese leaders worried that if the Viet Minh pressed further the United States would be far more likely to intervene to prevent a Communist takeover. Because Mao Zedong and other senior Chinese officials believed that U.S. intervention in the conflict would pose a grave threat to the PRC,...