There were a lot of regrettable outcomes of World War 2 that were made inevitable possibly as early as August 1939 when the Russo-German Non Aggression Pact was concluded, or certainly no later than June 22, 1941 when Hitler invaded the USSR and America and Britain chose to cast their lot with Stalin.
First among those was that the Soviet Union would occupy and dominate Eastern Europe. Second was that we were going to have a Cold War with them as soon as the war was over. In fact, I think the Cold War actually began when Stalin installed the Lublin Committee as the Soviet puppet government of Poland in early 1944.*
As for the Far East, we did not “lose” China. A hopelessly corrupt Nationalist regime, that was ineffective at governing, brought about its own collapse. No amount of American aid would have kept Mao’s communists from seizing power. Chaing had deliberately hoarded his supply of American equipment just for the post-war showdown with the communists. There Soviets will allow Mao to take and use freely all of the military hardware they are pouring into Manchuria. In the end, the communists were better organized, better led and better motivated than the Nationalists. That’s why they won.
In fact, our exclusive possession of the atomic bomb is the only thing that curbed Stalin’s appetite in any appreciable way. The Soviets have pushed the “we dropped the bomb just to intimidate Russia” meme so vigorously over the years because they were in fact intimidated by it. It’s no coincidence that as soon as they got the bomb themselves, within a year their stooges in North Korea tested the waters by invading South Korea.
Stalin, like Churchill, was clear, focused and consistent in pursuing the international aims of his country. Unlike Stalin, though, Churchill lacked the power and now the political office to make his plans effective. The United States did not pursue a clearly focused foreign policy until 1947, when we passed the National Security Act and Secretary of State George Marshall adopted the long-term policy of “containment,” which ultimately came to fruition under the Reagan administration. But by 1947, too much damage had been done.
*Do not assume that the statement above is intended to imply or assert that we should have backed Nazi Germany in its quest of Lebensraum against the USSR. I do not adhere to such views in any respect. Hitler had to be defeated, and it was far more convenient to spend copious amounts of Russian blood to do it than it was to shed copious amounts of American blood for the same purpose.
the French may have difficulty in re-occupying the region
Not that they won't try. The British are coming to grips with the fact that the War has changed their "Empire" but it will take a while for the French to get there.