Evaluate the extent of China’s regional and global power between 1949 and 1976.

The question requires that candidates make an appraisal of Chinese regional and global power between 1949 and 1976, weighing up its strengths and limitations. Candidates may offer equal coverage of regional and global power, or they may prioritize coverage of one or the other. There may be instances where regional and global power combine. However, both aspects will be a feature of the response. Candidates may evaluate the Chinese role in Korea, which promoted both regional and global power; they may evaluate relations with the US, from relative weakness with regard to Taiwan to rapprochement under Nixon; they may evaluate Russian relations, from the 1950 agreement through to the Sino-Soviet split. They may also evaluate China’s relations with India, and its involvement in Vietnam. Candidates may evaluate Chinese military capability, its acquisition of the nuclear bomb, and its entry into the United Nations. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.

The question required that candidates make an appraisal of Chinese regional and global power between 1949 and 1976. There were numerous responses to this question. This question was generally not answered very effectively. A significant number of candidates evaluated Mao's leadership of China with almost no reference to China as a regional and/or global power. There were some stronger responses, but many candidates wrote solely about the 1950s and a broader coverage of the time frame in the question would have strengthened those responses.