For many years, China’s big bad had been the Kuomintang. As MacArthur and the US/UN forces continued to ignore their warnings about their occupation of North Korea, the USA very quickly became the new Chinese enemy number one. But not all of the Chinese leadership believed they were ready to go to war with the US. Lin Biao, one of the heroes of the revolution, turned down Mao’s request to lead them in war against the US. He died in a mysterious plane crash, was declared an enemy of the revolution, and became Mao’s Sejanus.

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