The Hijacked War: The Story of Chinese POWs in the Korean War

by David C. Chang

The Korean War lasted for three years, one month, and two days―but armistice talks occupied more than two of those years, as 14,000 Chinese prisoners of war refused to return to Communist China, effectively hijacking the negotiations and thwarting the designs of world leaders at a pivotal moment in Cold War history.

In The Hijacked War, David Cheng Chang vividly portrays the experiences of Chinese prisoners in the dark, cold, and damp tents of Koje and Cheju islands in Korea and how their decisions derailed the high politics being conducted in the corridors of power in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing. The Truman-Acheson administration's policies of voluntary repatriation and prisoner reindoctrination for psychological warfare purposes―the first overt and the second covert―had unintended consequences. The "success" of the reindoctrination program backfired when anti-Communist Chinese prisoners persuaded fellow Chinese prisoners to renounce their homeland, derailing negotiations between the U.S. and China and changing the course of the Cold War in East Asia.

Drawing on newly declassified archival materials from China, Taiwan, and the United States and interviews with surviving Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war, Chang depicts the struggle over prisoner repatriation that dominated the second half of the Korean War, from late 1951 to July 1953, in the prisoners' own words.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Politics

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 7, 2020

Reviews

[Chyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

精彩的填补空白之作！学界对朝鲜战争的关注，多集中在前半段的五次战役和后半段的停战谈判，至于战俘问题，大多语焉不详，一笔带过。三分之二被俘官兵选择前往台湾，对中共来说，是一个巨大的政治和外交失败，因而被视为禁忌，不可说也不可提，更何谈研究。对美国来说，因为“志愿遣返”政策骑虎难下，使得战争延长，美军无谓伤亡增加，实属得不偿失，因而被刻意遗忘。对台湾来说，一万四千“反共义士”早已是昨日黄花，无人关心。志愿军战俘的个人命运，也令人唏嘘不已。历经千辛万苦返回大陆的战俘，却被中共视为“叛徒”和“动摇分子”，在以后的历次政治运动中饱受冲击，晚景凄凉。最坚定的反共战俘，被美国强制征召派回北朝鲜，实施自杀式的渗透和情报搜集活动，大多被抓被杀，幸存者寥寥无几。而被其他反共分子裹挟，不情不愿背井离乡前往台湾的战俘，反而得以平静度过余生，安享晚年，历史的吊诡无过于此。