Its a draw, China achieve nothing, US could have move on to Beijing, US would have withdraw to Japan.
Gosh make up your mind.
Never said US would have move on to Beijing, I said Chinese by engaging in Korean war, Failed both Strategic and Operation Goal and drawing the Tactical Goal, and most historian would agree MacArthur would return to Japan and continue to serve as Governor of Japan once the Korean war is wrapped up.
My stance is, US does not have reason or even urge to invade North Korea to begin with, let alone invading China had North Korean not invaded the South, chances are the South Korean would still be free of US troop because the simple fact that South Korean need US troop is to stop another Potential Northern invasion.
That is my point, my mind is made up, but yours is not.
China had to intervene. Mao knew if MacArthur reach the Yalu nothing would have stop him from moving on to Beijing and war inside Chinese territories. That's a no no. China could not take any chance. Yes it meant Taiwan had to wait. It was either Taiwan or maybe even loose all China. And China DID have 60 years of peace in the North East buffered by N Korea. It is S Korea and US bases that is now threaten by N Korea. Not China. What use is US bases in Korea but targets for both N Korean and China. US should just withdraw. But US cant so US is stuck there even if they are just targets.
At least the war show the world how laundry men managed to fight a superpower US to a standstill.
How Mao would know? Let's go back to 1950.
China just expelled Taiwan to the island, South Korea did not have US support to rebuild the military. South Korean don't even have a tank and US do not have any soldier in a level that can raise any sort of resistance, the first instant of US resistance of the Korean War is Task Force Smith, which is a 408 men Battalion of the 24th Infantry Division stationed in Japan. US have no hard influence in South Korea when the hostility started. There are no indication that US even have any sort of preparation to go that far into North Korea/Chinese Border, if they are intended to do so, they would have use more than 2 division plus a Marine Regiment.
Total US/ROK division would have not more than 300,000 soldier, which is almost able to match the troop that North Korean have, do you think people are stupid enough to march 5 divisions of troop into China, knowing they have millions of troop still being mobilised from the Civil War?
On the other hand, had US wanted to attack China, the way to do it is by launching a Amphibious Assault, not invade from a ground route, because of one simple fact that China does NOT have a navy in 1950. Any reasonable Military Planner would have helped Taiwan to reform and then using Taiwan to launch a Amphibious Assault toward favourable land, getting maximized Naval and Air Support rather than the Chinese North East Border, which is full of mountain. Which inhibit any sort of Supporting Fire.
Point is, what Mao see does not really matter, What he did does. The fact remain, the sole reason Mao start mobilizing into Korea is to eliminated American Threat toward North East Border,
but today, the threat still remain, you can bomb the US base at will in case of war, can you make anything out of it is another matter, but whatever that result is, you are looking at a Full on US invasion if you bomb the US base in Korea, which is the full might of the US Military Power brought to bear, which, I don't know how you slice it, it's a damn creditable threat if you ask me. On the other hand, have US have no base in Korea (South Korea or otherwise) you can bomb whatever the hack you want and US will not be involved because there are no need. In fact, had China not engage in the conflict, there are pretty good chance a United Korea under the Southern Regime would have been friendly toward China instead of the US, because of one common enemy, Japan. Unless US change their policy toward Japan, I am pretty sure a unified Korea would see Japan as a threat and will joined the like minded country for an alliance.
And finally, so what the "laundrymen" can fight the superpower? Anybody can fight the US, don't forget the Japanese did fought the US already, and in term of Military tactics, Japanese performed much better than China in term of the ability to hold their own. The problem is, there are something called Pyrrhic Victory, like how Soviet Union win over Nazi Germany despite heavy casualty, but there are no such thing as Pyrrhic Draw. You can claim whatever you want about being "Inferior" or stopping the American on its track, the problem is, that is not an achievement, if you are engage in a war, you fight to win, if you fail to win, you failed your objective. There are no place for romanticized account on how People Volunteer soldier bravely died stopping the US imperial tyrant on his track, you could probably make a movie out of it, but not call it any sort of military achievement. Because on the other hand, US did the same thing to China, with only losing 1/8 of the men lost by the Chinese. So, if what you think is an achievement, then what about the American?
And yes the Korean war memorial was not build until the 1990s. Much later then the Vietnam war memorial which was build in the 1980s even thought Vietnam war was much later. To say Korean was not important because it was sandwich between 2 bigger wars ? So what were people thinking for 20 years BEFORE the Vietnam war even started !
No, THE, (notice the word "THE") Korean war memorial is opened in 1986, that does not mean there are no memorial before that, roads started to rename as Korean War Memorial Drive since 1960-1970, place like Korean War Veteran Parkway was named and established in 1972, ships, location have been named after Korean War medal of honour recipient since late 60s. And Korean War was accepted into the hall of VFW immediately after the war
The reason why The Korean War Memorial has only started in 1986 is because there aren't many site dedicated in the US, most of the Museum piece is located in War Museum and other War Memorial, that's because in the US, American saw every vet have the same status, whether or not you fought in WW2, The great war or the Civil War. individual Memorial or Museum are very few and far between, that does not mean they did not celebrate the veteran from Korean War. The National World War 2 Museum is opened by George W Bush in 2004, does that mean there are no remembrance for WW2 vet before 2004??
You brought up other wars at China's border. What the heck for ?
It meant to show you all other war subsequently happened to China is not from the same border, not even the same direction. Which mean had the Chinese did not interfere with Korean War, the Chinese did not lose the so called "Security" toward the North-Eastern border, because there were no war from that border, only people trying to escape the northern regime coming thru that border.