ABSTRACT
The American initiative to secure a ‘common front’ on diplomatic non-recognition of China also embraced the question of trade. Ambassador Stuart asked the State Department for permission to go, but he received no authorization, only the news that all the North Atlantic powers had accepted Washington’s proposal for a ‘common front’ to coordinate – and delay – recognition of the new government when it was formed. Stuart cabled Washington to discuss the ‘pros and cons’ of such a visit; three days later Mao Zedong’s essay ‘On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship’ was published and the State Department promptly instructed the ex-Ambassador to decline the invitation. The American counter-offer was phrased in terms which could only invite rejection. More cynically, for those who sought it, it offered the United States an easy pretext for refusing to extend even de facto recognition to the new government.
