Government E1275: Asia in World Affairs Session

1
Government E-1275 Asia in World AffairsSession
3. The Cold War in Asia

• 1. How did the Cold War begin in Asia?
• 2. How did the Soviet-led communist and the
  U.S.-led capitalist alliances work in Asia?
• 3. How did the Cold War end in Asia?

2
Distinctive Tenets of the Cold War in Asia

• Japanese foreign policy transformed (Berger)
• Projection of U.S. military power in Asia.
• Civil wars in China, Korea, and Vietnam
  (Christensen)
• Communist authoritarianism vs. capitalist
  authoritarianism.
• Weak multilateral institutions (Hemmer/Katzenstein
  )
• No North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or
  European Community (EC, now EU).
• Problems of cooperation in the revisionist
  alliance between the S.U. and PRC (Christensen).
• Economic miracle in East Asia
• Reduced appeal of communism capitalism won the
  Cold War.
• Democratization and nationalism in ROK, ROC.
• The end of the Cold War (Yahuda)
• PRC, DPRK, SRV resilient, didnt collapse.

3
Origins of the Cold War (I)U.S. Occupation of
Japan

• Early U.S. occupation policies (1945-47)
• Democratization and demilitarization.
• Disbanding of the Imperial Japanese military.
• Constitution (1947) symbol monarchy Art. 9.
• Purge the right-wing, release the left-wing.
• Empower labor unions.
• Land reform.
• Break up the zaibatsu.
• The reverse course, 1948-52
• Reverse demilitarization.
• Purge the left, release the right-wing.
• Reorganization of the zaibatsu into keiretsu
  networks.
• Development of the conservative political order,
  dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP,
  est. 1955).

4
Discussion Thomas Berger, From Sword to
Chrysanthemum

• Japans anti-militarism in its present form
  could not survive both a weakening of its
  alliance with the United States and the emergence
  of a new regional security threat. (p. 120)
• Cultures can and do change, but usually they do
  so in an evolutionary fashion. (p. 148)
• Japans military buildup in the 1970s and 1980s
  took place in close consultation with the United
  States. Consequently, the Japanese force
  structure is designed to complement that of U.S.
  forces in the region, with a heavy emphasis on
  defensive weaponry, and little independent
  capacity for power projection. (p. 127)

5
Origins of the Cold War (II) The Chinese Civil
War

• Nationalists (Kuomintang, KMT) vs. Communists
  (Chinese Communist Party, CCP).
• PRC founded, Oct. 49.
• First Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954-55
  1958).
• Jinmen/Quemoy, Matsu.

6
Origins of the Cold War (III) The Korean War

• Legacies of the Pacific War
• Yalta and Potsdam Soviet Red Army into
  Manchuria, Korea.
• U.S.-Soviet Joint Commission 38th parallel.
• Divided Korea (1945-50)
• Rhee Syngman (U.S.) Kim Il-Sung (S.U.).
• Seoul, KMAG est. ROKA Pyongyang, KPA.
• Election (5/48) ROK (est. 8/15/48) DPRK (est.
  9/8/48).
• Outbreak of the Korean War
• Guerrilla warfare in the south.

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The Korean War (cont.)

• Sec. State Dean Achesons speech (Jan. 50) ROK
  and ROC not included explicitly in U.S. defense
  perimeter.
• Balance of military power NK attacks on 6/25/50.
• General Douglas MacArthur rollback strategy,
  to Yalu.
• Chinese entry (Nov. 50) Kim Il-Sungs role in
  the Chinese civil war.

8
Dean Acheson on the Korean War (1953)

• I think we can sum it up this way that Korea
  moved a great many things from the realm of
  theory and brought them right into the realm of
  urgency. The war confirmed in our minds the
  correctness of the analysis of the NSC 68.

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Origins of the Cold War (IV) The Vietnam War

• First Indochina War (1946-54).
• Viet Minhs anti-Japanese resistance.
• Ho Chi Minhs proclamation of independence.
• French defeat Dien Bien Phu.
• Geneva Agreements (1954) 17th parallel.
• Divided Vietnam
• South Ngo Dinh Diem U.S. aid.
• Viet Minhs infiltration of the south National
  Liberation front.
• U.S. concerns domino theory.

10
The Vietnam War (cont.)

• Johnson administration and the Americanization
  of the war.
• Rolling thunder air bombings (Feb. 1856-).
• North Vietnam increased aid from S.U. and China.
• Nixon administration and the Vietnamization of
  the war.
• Guam (Nixon) Doctrine (1969).
• Paris peace talks (1968-73) and settlement fall
  of Saigon (1975).

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U.S.-Led, Capitalist Alliances in
AsiaHemmer/Katzenstein Why Is There No NATO
in Asia?

• Americas potential Asian allies were seen as
  part of an alien and, in important ways, inferior
  community Multilateralism is a particularly
  demanding form of international cooperation. It
  requires a strong sense of collective identity in
  addition to shared interests. (pp. 575-6)
• Germanys pariah status following World War II
  as equal to if not greater than Japans. (p.
  581)
• A direct line from a certain type of threat
  (cross-border Soviet attack) to a particular
  institutional form (multilateralism) cannot be
  drawn in Europe. (p. 585)

12
Soviet-Led Communist AlliancesT. Christensen
Worse Than a Monolith

• Different security interests of the S.U. and PRC.
• Suspicion competition between S.U. and PRC.
• Small, weak states (such as DPRK and North
  Vietnam) could manipulate S.U. and PRC.
• Lack of coordination b/w S.U. and PRC.
• Small states received more material support from
  both S.U. PRC.
• Lack of transparency U.S. misreading of the
  cohesion resolve of the communist bloc.

13
The End of the Cold War in Asia

• Tripolarity
• 1970s Sino-Soviet split Sino-American
  diplomatic normalization (1972) U.S.-S.U.
  détente in the 1970s.
• Decline of the Soviet Union
• War in Afghanistan.
• The Gorbachev revolution in Soviet diplomacy.
• Moderation of Chinas revolutionary goals
• Cultural Revolution Deng Xiaopings reformist
  China.
• The rise of the Japanese economy.
• U.S.-Japan trade currency disputes in the 70s
  80s.
• Containing Japan (James Fallows, 89).
• Economic disputes may undermine security alliance
  (?).

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The End of the Cold War in Asia (cont.)

• Divided Korea China
• DPRK vs. ROK PRC vs. ROC.
• Democratization nationalism in ROK ROC.
• Hereditary dictatorship in DPRK econ. reform in
  PRC.
• Domino theory turned out to be wrong in
  Southeast Asia.