International politics of East Asia
J. Haacke
IR3090, 2790090
2011
Undergraduate study in
Economics, Management,
Finance and the Social Sciences
This is an extract from a subject guide for an undergraduate course offered as part of the
University of London International Programmes in Economics, Management, Finance and
the Social Sciences. Materials for these programmes are developed by academics at the
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
For more information, see: www.londoninternational.ac.uk
This guide was prepared for the University of London International Programmes by:
Dr Jürgen Haacke, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, London School of Economics and
Political Science.
This is one of a series of subject guides published by the University. We regret that due to
pressure of work the author is unable to enter into any correspondence relating to, or arising
from, the guide. If you have any comments on this subject guide, favourable or unfavourable,
please use the form at the back of this guide.
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Published by: University of London
© University of London 2006
Reprinted with minor revisions 2011
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Contents
Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................. 1
Aims and objectives........................................................................................................ 1
Syllabus.......................................................................................................................... 2
Learning outcomes......................................................................................................... 2
Reading advice............................................................................................................... 2
Online study resources.................................................................................................... 5
How to use the subject guide.......................................................................................... 6
Examination advice........................................................................................................ 7
List of abbreviations....................................................................................................... 9
Map of East Asia.......................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 1: East Asia after the Pacific War............................................................. 13
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 13
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 13
Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 13
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 13
Introduction................................................................................................................. 13
The significance of the communist victory in China........................................................ 14
Key bilateral relationships............................................................................................. 14
The Korean War and its impact...................................................................................... 15
The strategy of containment.......................................................................................... 16
The newly independent states in Southeast Asia............................................................ 17
The separate experiences of independence.................................................................... 17
Southeast Asia.............................................................................................................. 18
Internationalisation of the war in Vietnam..................................................................... 19
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 19
Chapter 2: International politics of Northeast Asia, 1954–70.............................. 21
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 21
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 21
Further reading............................................................................................................. 21
Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 21
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 21
Introduction................................................................................................................. 21
Evolving US–Japan security relations............................................................................. 22
Taiwan in Sino–US relations, offshore crises.................................................................. 23
Sino–Soviet relations.................................................................................................... 24
Soviet Union–Japan relations........................................................................................ 24
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 25
Chapter 3: The international politics of Southeast Asia, 1954–66........................ 27
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 27
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 27
Further reading............................................................................................................. 27
Aim of the chapter........................................................................................................ 27
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 27
Introduction................................................................................................................. 27
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90 International politics of East Asia
The Geneva Settlement................................................................................................. 28
The establishment of SEATO.......................................................................................... 28
The Bandung Conference.............................................................................................. 29
The Second Indochina War............................................................................................ 29
The creation of Malaysia............................................................................................... 30
First steps toward regionalism...................................................................................... 31
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 31
Chapter 4: The period of tripolarity...................................................................... 33
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 33
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 33
Further reading............................................................................................................. 33
Aim of the chapter........................................................................................................ 33
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 33
Introduction................................................................................................................. 33
The concept of tripolarity.............................................................................................. 34
Origins and development of tripolarity.......................................................................... 34
The nature of tripolarity................................................................................................ 35
Tripolarity, normalisation and Taiwan............................................................................. 35
Impact of tripolarity on East Asia................................................................................... 36
The evolution of tripolarity............................................................................................ 37
The end of tripolarity.................................................................................................... 37
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 38
Chapter 5: The development of ASEAN................................................................. 39
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 39
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 39
Further reading............................................................................................................. 39
Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 39
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 39
Introduction................................................................................................................. 39
The members of ASEAN................................................................................................ 40
The origins and purpose of ASEAN................................................................................ 40
Regional accommodation and reconciliation................................................................. 40
Institutional framework................................................................................................. 41
The Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality................................................................... 41
The ASEAN way............................................................................................................ 42
The 1976 Bali Summit.................................................................................................. 42
ASEAN’s relations with the Indochinese countries in the 1970s..................................... 43
ASEAN economic cooperation....................................................................................... 43
Relations with dialogue partners................................................................................... 44
ASEAN as a security organisation.................................................................................. 44
Conclusions.................................................................................................................. 45
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 45
Chapter 6: The Cambodia conflict......................................................................... 47
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 47
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 47
Further reading............................................................................................................. 47
Aim of the chapter........................................................................................................ 47
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 47
Introduction................................................................................................................. 47
Origins of the Cambodia conflict................................................................................... 48
ii
Contents
Responses to the intervention....................................................................................... 48
Vietnam’s response to international pressure................................................................. 49
ASEAN divisions over Vietnam...................................................................................... 50
The ending of the Cambodia War.................................................................................. 50
Implications for ASEAN................................................................................................. 51
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 51
Chapter 7: The nature of the region after the Cold War....................................... 53
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 53
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 53
Further reading............................................................................................................. 53
Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 53
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 53
Introduction................................................................................................................. 54
The major powers......................................................................................................... 54
Is any major power being balanced?............................................................................. 55
From bilateralism to multilateralism?............................................................................. 56
The ‘war on terror’........................................................................................................ 56
Potential flashpoints and territorial conflicts.................................................................. 58
Democratisation and public opinion.............................................................................. 59
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 59
Chapter 8: The United States and East Asia.......................................................... 61
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 61
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 61
Further reading............................................................................................................. 61
Aim of the chapter........................................................................................................ 61
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 61
Introduction................................................................................................................. 61
Enduring interests......................................................................................................... 62
Challenges................................................................................................................... 62
US policy towards Japan............................................................................................... 63
US policy towards China............................................................................................... 63
US policy towards North Korea...................................................................................... 66
US policy towards ASEAN countries............................................................................... 67
US and multilateral institutions in Asia-Pacific............................................................... 70
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 71
Chapter 9: China and East Asia.............................................................................. 73
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 73
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 73
Further reading............................................................................................................. 73
Aim of the chapter........................................................................................................ 73
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 73
Introduction................................................................................................................. 73
China–US relations....................................................................................................... 74
China–Japan relations.................................................................................................. 76
Approach toward multilateralism.................................................................................. 77
China–Southeast Asia................................................................................................... 78
China as a revisionist state?......................................................................................... 79
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 80
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90 International politics of East Asia
Chapter 10: Japan and East Asia........................................................................... 81
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 81
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 81
Further reading............................................................................................................. 81
Aim of the chapter........................................................................................................ 81
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 81
Introduction................................................................................................................. 81
Declaratory Japanese foreign policy............................................................................... 82
Japan–US relations....................................................................................................... 82
Ballistic missile defence................................................................................................ 82
Political issues.............................................................................................................. 83
Japan–China relations.................................................................................................. 83
Japan and the two Koreas............................................................................................. 84
Japan–Southeast Asia relations..................................................................................... 86
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 87
Chapter 11: The post-Cold War development of ASEAN....................................... 89
Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 89
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 89
Further reading............................................................................................................. 89
Aim of the chapter........................................................................................................ 89
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 89
Introduction................................................................................................................. 90
Responding to a changing strategic and economic context............................................ 90
Towards ASEAN expansion........................................................................................... 91
ASEAN challenged........................................................................................................ 91
Flexible engagement.................................................................................................... 91
Dealing with economic challenges................................................................................ 92
Dealing with political-security challenges...................................................................... 93
Bali Concord II.............................................................................................................. 93
ASEAN Economic Community....................................................................................... 95
ASEAN and Myanmar................................................................................................... 95
ASEAN and the major powers....................................................................................... 96
Reminder of your learning outcomes............................................................................. 97
Chapter 12: Multilateral economic and security institutions................................ 99
Recommended reading................................................................................................. 99
Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 99
Learning outcomes....................................................................................................... 99
Introduction................................................................................................................. 99
Regional security cooperation..................................................................................... 100
Multilateral security cooperation at sub-regional level................................................. 102
Outlook...................................................................................................................... 104
Economic cooperation................................................................................................ 104
Shared characteristics of regional cooperation: short summary..................................... 107
Reminder of your learning outcomes........................................................................... 108
Conclusions and outlook..................................................................................... 109
Sample examination paper................................................................................. 111
iv
Introduction
Introduction
This course seeks to study political developments in the East Asian region
within the framework of international relations. The region only acquired
cohesion in the twentieth century and has grown steadily in economic
and political significance since the end of the Second World War. Due to
its vast geographical spread and the great divergence of its constituent
states in terms of size, culture, historical experience and levels of economic
development, the main focus of the course will be confined to the major
powers resident or immersed in the region as well as the main regional
institutions.
East Asia is an area where the interests of the United States (the sole
remaining superpower) intersect with those of two powers of global
significance, China and Japan. The two major wars of the Cold War period
(Korea and Vietnam) were fought here, and developments within the region
were integral to the management of the central balance between the two
superpowers of the era (the United States and the Soviet Union). It is a
region that has been greatly marked by the American exercise of hegemony
since the end of the Pacific War in 1945. Since the end of the Cold War,
the role of the United States has remained central to the evolution of
international politics in East Asia, initially in the context of a rising China
and the further development of regional organisations and, since 2001, the
global ‘war on terror’, as well as increasing competition for influence by all
the major regional powers.
The region also provides examples of the dynamic relationship between
domestic order and the international environment. The states of the region
are either new or newly established on old foundations and their political
systems are all subject to different degrees of vulnerability. The divergent
experiences of the attainment of independence and of the post-colonial
condition have resulted in different interactions both with other regional
states and with the global powers. The region encompasses different
approaches to foreign and security policy and it has experienced intraregional conflict derived from several sources. At the same time it has
developed distinctive forms of institutional cooperation in the search for
regional order.
Aims and objectives
Using appropriate international relations concepts, the course will explore
the nature of the international politics of the region. The detailed aims and
objectives are to:
• provide an introduction to the international politics of East Asia
• examine the impact of the Cold War on Northeast and Southeast Asia
• provide an overview of the regional policies and core bilateral
relationships of the major powers as well as the foreign policies of other
selected regional states
• examine regional organisations and multilateral arrangements
• explore regional conflict and potential flashpoints in Northeast and
Southeast Asia
• explore the changes in the international politics of East Asia as brought
about by the end of the Cold War and the terrorist attacks of 9/11
• examine the nature of regional order.
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90 International politics of East Asia
Syllabus
If taken as part of a BSc degree, you must have passed 11 Introduction
to international relations before this course may be attempted.
This course covers developments in the international politics of East Asia
since the end of the Pacific War. The first part analyses the international
relations of the region against the backdrop of the impact of global
systemic rivalry, the legacy of colonialism and the significance of
nationalism, as well as the interlinkages between the global, regional
and local levels. The topics of study covered include the advent of the
Cold War and the policies of the major regional states during bipolarity,
the implications of tripolarity, the development and character of regional
cooperation in Southeast Asia, and the Cambodia conflict.
The second part of the course examines the regional impact of changes
in the international structure after the end of the Cold War as well as
the implications of the Asian financial crisis and 9/11 for East Asian
international relations. It discusses in separate chapters the regional
policies of the US, China and Japan as well as the development of ASEAN
cooperation. Issues covered include US pre-eminence, the re-emergence
of China, Japan’s changing role, the major regional conflicts, and the
establishment of new multilateral economic and security arrangements.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course and having completed the relevant readings and
activities, you should be able to:
• explain the linkages between global, regional and local developments
in the East Asia region
• analyse the regional policies of the major powers in East Asia
• outline and discuss the main foreign policy and security objectives of
other states resident in Southeast and Northeast Asia
• analyse the nature of interstate conflict in East Asia
• compare and contrast developments in East Asia’s international politics
in the Cold and post-Cold War periods including after 9/11
• discuss the emergence, development, effectiveness and prospects of
regional institutions
• assess the prospects for regional stability and cooperation
• apply concepts from International Relations as appropriate.
Reading advice
Essential reading
The Essential reading for this course, which we recommend that you
purchase, is:
Acharya, Amitav Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN
and the problem of regional order. (London: Routledge, 2009)
[ISBN: 9780415414296].
Tow, William T. Asia-Pacific Strategic Relations: Seeking Convergent Security.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) [ISBN: 9780521003681].
Yahuda, Michael The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific. (London and New
York: Routledge, 2011) third edition [ISBN: 9780415474801].
2
Introduction
Detailed reading references in this subject guide refer to the editions of the
set textbooks listed above. New editions of one or more of these textbooks
may have been published by the time you study this course. You can use
a more recent edition of any of the books; use the detailed chapter and
section headings and the index to identify relevant readings. Also check
the virtual learning environment (VLE) regularly for updated guidance on
readings.
Recommended and Further reading
At the start of each chapter we provide a list of relevant recommended
and Further reading; for your ease of reference we provide a full list here
of all the readings recommended in this subject guide. Roughly in order of
priority, you could approach the Recommended reading after the Essential
reading for the chapters, and then the Further reading will explore the
issues in more depth. You are not required to do any of the Recommended
or Further reading in order to pass this course, but in this subject area it is
always recommended that you read as widely as possible.
Recommended reading
Acharya, Amitav The Quest for Identity. (Singapore: Oxford University Press,
2000) [ISBN: 0195887093]. Chapter 3.
Bristow, Damon ‘The Five Power Defence Arrangements: Southeast Asia’s
Unknown Regional Security Organization’, Contemporary Southeast Asia,
27(1) 2005.
Buckley, Roger The United States in the Asia-Pacific since 1945. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2002) [ISBN: 0521007259].
Chen, Jian Mao’s China and the Cold War. (Chapel Hill and London: University
of North Carolina Press, 2001) [ISBN: 0807849324]. Chapters 3, 5, 7 and 8.
Connors, Michael K., Remy Davison and Jörn Dosch The New Global Politics of
the Asia-Pacific. (London: Routledge Curzon, 2004)
[ISBN: 0415285631]. Chapter 2.
Dosch, Jörn ‘Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific: ASEAN’, in Michael K.
Connors, Remy Davison and Jörn Dosch The New Global Politics of the AsiaPacific. (London: Routledge Curzon, 2004) [ISBN: 0415285631].
Gaddis, John Lewis The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War.
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987) [ISBN: 0195043359].
Goncharov, Sergei N., John W. Lewis, and Xue Litai Uncertain Partners: Stalin,
Mao, and the Korean War. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993)
[ISBN: 0804725217].
Gurtov, Mel Pacific Asia? Prospects for Security and Cooperation in East Asia.
(Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) [ISBN: 074250851X]. Chapters 4
and 7.
Haacke, Jürgen ASEAN’s Diplomatic and Security Culture: Origins, development
and prospects. (Abingdon and New York: Routledge)
[ISBN: 0415374170 (pbk)]. Chapters 7–8.
Hook, Glenn D., Julie Gilson, Christopher W. Hughes and Hugo Dobson Japan’s
International Relations: Politics, Economics and security. (London: Routledge,
2001) [ISBN: 0415240980]. Chapters 4, 6 and 9.
Hughes, Christopher W. Japan’s Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power.
(London: Oxford University Press for IISS, 2004) [ISBN: 0198567588]
Chapter 1.
Hund, Markus ‘ASEAN Plus Three: towards a new age of pan-East Asian
regionalism? A skeptic’s appraisal’, The Pacific Review 16(3) 2003, pp. 383–417.
Kim, Samuel S. (ed.) The International Relations of Northeast Asia. (Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2004) [ISBN: 0742516954].
Lee Poh, P. Tham Siew Yean, and George T. Yu (eds) The Emerging East Asian
Community: Security and Economic Issues. (Bangi: Penerbit Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2006) [ISBN: 0765615533]. Chapter 4.
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90 International politics of East Asia
Leifer, Michael ASEAN and the Security of Southeast Asia. (London and New
York: Routledge, 1989) [ISBN: 041501008X].
Leifer, Michael The ASEAN Regional Forum: Extending ASEAN’s model of regional
security. Adelphi Paper 302 (Oxford: Oxford University Press for IISS, 1996)
[ISBN: 0198292635].
Morris, Stephen J. Why Vietnam Invaded Cambodia: Political Culture and the
Causes of War. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999)
[ISBN: 0804730504]
Narine, Shaun Explaining ASEAN: Regionalism in Southeast Asia. (Boulder and
London: Lynne Rienner, 2002) [ISBN: 1588261298]. Chapters 3, 5 and 7.
Ravenhill, John APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) [ISBN: 0521667976].
Ross, Robert S. (ed.) China, the United States, and the Soviet Union: Tripolarity
and Policy Making in the Cold War. (New York and London: M.E. Sharpe,
1993) [ISBN: 1563242540].
Ross, Robert S. Negotiating Cooperation: The United States and China, 19691989. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995) [ISBN: 0804724547].
Suh, J.J., Peter J. Katzenstein and Allen Carson (eds) Rethinking Security in East
Asia: Identity, Power, and Efficiency. (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
2004) [ISBN: 0804749795]. Chapter 2 by Alistair Iain Johnston.
Tarling, Nicholas Nations and States in Southeast Asia. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998) [ISBN: 0521625645].
Tow, William T. Asia-Pacific Strategic Relations: Seeking Convergent Security.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) [ISBN: 0521003687].
Chapter 7.
Turnbull, C.M. ‘Regionalism and Nationalism’ in The Cambridge History
of Southeast Asia, Vol II, Part Two: From World War II to the present.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) [ISBN: 0521663725]. Chapter 5.
Weatherbee, Donald E. International Relations in Southeast Asia: The Struggle
for Autonomy. (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) [ISBN: 074252843X].
Zhao, S. (ed.) Chinese Foreign Policy: Pragmatism and Strategic Behaviour.
(Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004) [ISBN: 0765612852].
Further reading
Bernkopf Tucker, Nancy (ed.) Dangerous Strait: The U.S.–Taiwan–China Crisis.
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2005) [ISBN: 0231135645].
Buzan, Barry and Rosemary Foot (eds) Does China Matter?: A Reassessment
(London and New York: Routledge, 2004) [ISBN: 0415304121].
Carpenter, William M. and David G. Wiencek (eds) Asian Security Handbook:
Terrorism and the New Security Environment. (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe,
2005) third edition [ISBN: 0765615533]. Introduction.
Desker, Barry ‘In Defence of FTAs: from purity to pragmatism in East Asia’, The
Pacific Review 17(1) 2004, pp.3–26.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar Indonesia in ASEAN: Foreign Policy and Regionalism
(Singapore: ISEAS, 1994) [ISBN: 9813016760].
Garver, John W. The Sino–American Alliance: Nationalist China and American
Cold War Strategy in Asia. (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997)
[ISBN: 0765600536].
Godement, François The Downsizing of Asia. (London and New York: Routledge,
1999) [ISBN: 0415198348].
Goncharov, Sergei N., John W. Lewis and Xue Litai Uncertain Partners: Stalin,
Mao, and the Korean War. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992)
[ISBN: 0804725217].
Green, Michael J. Japan’s Reluctant Realism: Foreign Policy Challenges in an Era
of Uncertain Power. (New York: Palgrave, 2001) [ISBN: 1403962359].
Haacke, Jürgen Myanmar’s Foreign and Security Policy: Domestic Influences and
International Implications, Adelphi Paper no. 381 (London: Routledge for
The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2006 [ISBN: 0415407265].
4
Introduction
Haacke, Jürgen ASEAN’s Diplomatic and Security Culture: Origins,
Development and Prospects. (London and New York: Routledge Curzon,
2003) [ISBN: 0415374170]. Introduction.
Hays Gries, Peter China’s New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy.
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) [ISBN: 0520232976].
Ho Khai Leong and Samuel C.Y. Ku (eds) China and Southeast Asia: Global
Changes and Regional Challenges. (Singapore: ISEAS, 2005)
[ISBN: 9812302980].
Jian, Chen Mao’s China and the Cold War. (Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 2001) [ISBN: 0807849324].
Lee Poh Ping, Tham Siew Yean, and George T. Yu (eds) The Emerging East
Asian Community: Security and Economic Issues. (Bangi: Penerbit Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2006) [ISBN: 9679427641].
Leifer, Michael ASEAN and the Security of South-East Asia. (London and New
York: Routledge, 1989) [ISBN: 041501008X].
McMahon, Robert J. Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War. (Boston
and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003) third edition [ISBN: 061819312X].
Peou, Sorpong Conflict Neutralization in the Cambodia War: From Battlefield to
Ballot-box. (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1997)
[ISBN: 9835600112].
Rozman, Gilbert Northeast Asia’s Stunted Regionalism: Bilateral Distrust in the
Shadow of Globalization. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
[ISBN: 0521543606].
Suettinger, Robert L. Beyond Tiananmen: The Politics of US-China Relations
1989-2000. (Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 2003) [ISBN: 0815782071].
Suh, J.J., Peter J. Katzenstein and Allen Carson (eds) Rethinking Security in East
Asia: Identity, Power, and Efficiency. (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
2004) [ISBN: 0804749795].
Thayer, Carlyle A. and Ramses Amer Vietnamese Foreign Policy in Transition.
(Singapore: ISEAS, 1999) [ISBN: 9812300252].
Yahuda, Michael China’s Role in World Affairs. (London: Croom Helm, 1978)
[ISBN: 0709901569]
Please note that as long as you read the Essential reading you are then free
to read around the subject area in any text, paper or online resource. You
will need to support your learning by reading as widely as possible and by
thinking about how these principles apply in the real world. To help you
read extensively, you have free access to the VLE and University of London
Online Library (see below).
Online study resources
In addition to the subject guide and the Essential reading, it is crucial that
you take advantage of the study resources that are available online for this
course, including the VLE and the Online Library.
You can access the VLE, the Online Library and your University of London
email account via the Student Portal at:
http://my.londoninternational.ac.uk
You should have received your login details for the Student Portal with
your official offer, which was emailed to the address that you gave
on your application form. You have probably already logged in to the
Student Portal in order to register! As soon as you registered, you will
automatically have been granted access to the VLE, Online Library and
your fully functional University of London email account.
If you forget your login details at any point, please email uolia.support@
london.ac.uk quoting your student number.
5
90 International politics of East Asia
The VLE
The VLE, which complements this subject guide, has been designed to
enhance your learning experience, providing additional support and a
sense of community. It forms an important part of your study experience
with the University of London and you should access it regularly.
The VLE provides a range of resources for EMFSS courses:
• Self-testing activities: Doing these allows you to test your own
understanding of subject material.
• Electronic study materials: The printed materials that you receive from
the University of London are available to download, including updated
reading lists and references.
• Past examination papers and Examiners’ commentaries: These provide
advice on how each examination question might best be answered.
• A student discussion forum: This is an open space for you to discuss
interests and experiences, seek support from your peers, work
collaboratively to solve problems and discuss subject material.
• Videos: There are recorded academic introductions to the subject,
interviews and debates and, for some courses, audio-visual tutorials
and conclusions.
• Recorded lectures: For some courses, where appropriate, the sessions
from previous years’ Study Weekends have been recorded and made
available.
• Study skills: Expert advice on preparing for examinations and
developing your digital literacy skills.
• Feedback forms.
Some of these resources are available for certain courses only, but we
are expanding our provision all the time and you should check the VLE
regularly for updates.
Making use of the Online Library
The Online Library contains a huge array of journal articles and other
resources to help you read widely and extensively.
To access the majority of resources via the Online Library you will either
need to use your University of London Student Portal login details, or you
will be required to register and use an Athens login:
http://tinyurl.com/ollathens
The easiest way to locate relevant content and journal articles in the
Online Library is to use the Summon search engine.
If you are having trouble finding an article listed in a reading list, try
removing any punctuation from the title, such as single quotation marks,
question marks and colons.
For further advice, please see the online help pages:
www.external.shl.lon.ac.uk/summon/about.php
How to use the subject guide
This subject guide provides you with a tool to master topics on the
International politics of East Asia. The chapters in the subject guide
are designed to link up with the Essential and recommended/Further
readings. Therefore, it is vital that you make the most of following
up on these readings. They will provide you with more detailed and
6
Introduction
sometimes different perspectives from those presented in the guide
itself, not least to emphasise the point that there are always bound
to be both complementary and contradictory arguments in the social
science literature. While you should make the Essential reading your first
intellectual port of call, the recommended and further literature as well as
other sources listed in the subject guide will provide a fuller picture that
will allow you to develop balanced overall assessments.
To assist in this, the subject guide offers you many opportunities to ponder
and answer questions in relation to a good number of the points covered.
Do explore these questions in good time and with due diligence. In most
cases, you can only master the activities if you are prepared to read and
consider carefully the further literature as set out in this guide. While there
is nothing to stop you from completing additional readings beyond those
texts identified as useful in this guide to develop a more sophisticated
understanding of the issues at stake, your engagement with the core
essential academic literature identified is necessary to meet the learning
outcomes. Also, please be mindful of your overall time investment. You
should commit at least 6–7 hours per week to the study of this course
if you are studying it over the course of a standard academic year from
October until the following May. Adjust this figure accordingly if you are
choosing to take longer to study for this course.
Examination advice
Important: the information and advice given here are based on the
examination structure used at the time this guide was written. Please
note that subject guides may be used for several years. Because of this
we strongly advise you to always check both the current Regulations for
relevant information about the examination, and the VLE where you
should be advised of any forthcoming changes. You should also carefully
check the rubric/instructions on the paper you actually sit and follow
those instructions.
Format of the examination and useful resources
This course is examined by a three-hour unseen written examination paper
in which you must answer four questions from a choice of 12. These will
be essay-type answers. The Sample examination paper at the end of this
subject guide is indicative of the kind of cognitive skills that you will be
assessed on and shows you the format of the examination paper that you
can expect.
Approaching the examination
Please always remember that you should be able to explain and discuss
as well as assess, rather than merely describe. As with your other courses,
look carefully at the wording of past examination questions. Always pay
attention to what the key words are in the question. This is crucial if you
are to address the question head-on, which is essential if you wish to
achieve a good mark in your essay. Once you have identified all the words
that you need to pay attention to in order to construct your essay, plan
your answer before starting to write. When formulating your introductory
paragraph, think about restating the question in your own words, then
indicate how you will answer the question and make sure you signpost
appropriately so that you and your examiners are clear on the structure
you wish to adopt for your answer.
7
90 International politics of East Asia
The general expectation is moreover that early on, before you launch into
your discussion, you will define what you take to be the key concepts
and terms of the question you are dealing with. If you were addressing
the question ‘Is ASEAN a security community?’ you would therefore be
expected to define the term ‘security community’. This subject guide
offers, on a number of occasions, possible ways of defining what are often
contested concepts. You should nevertheless make it your rule that you
look up all the concepts that you are not clear about. This is important
because if you, say, confuse a security with a defence community in your
examination, you will not do as well as you could.
When structuring the main body of your examination answer, it is often
useful to think about questions that follow on from the examination
question. In the above example, once you have defined the term ‘security
community’, such follow-on questions might be: What evidence is there
that ASEAN has been a security community? Does this evidence extend
over the entire period since ASEAN’s formation? Is there any evidence
to the contrary? What might this be? What is the significance of this
evidence? If there is possible evidence that ASEAN is not a fully-fledged
security community, what is the extent of the qualification that it is
necessary to make? These questions and many possible other ones will
oblige you to know about the ways in which ASEAN countries have
dealt with conflict among themselves. You will need to identify pertinent
examples and demonstrate both factual knowledge and historical
understanding in elaborating on them. In other words, a good answer to
the above question requires you to have a firm grasp of relevant empirical
examples.
You should also make an effort to demonstrate evidence of reading in your
examination answers. While you do not need to use footnotes or endnotes
to reference works and arguments, as you would in a research essay, it
is nonetheless expected that you make appropriate references to authors
when putting across your arguments. For example, in the context of the
above example of whether ASEAN constitutes a security community, you
could say: ‘According to Amitav Acharya, ASEAN could be conceptualised
as an ascendant security community up to the late 1990s...’. Alternatively,
you could refer to relevant works in the following way: ‘It has been argued
that ASEAN has constituted an ascendant security community (Acharya,
2001).’ Please note, however, that while you should make appropriate
references to arguments in the literature, the argument you are expected
to develop in your essay-based exam is yours.
Though the sustained quality of your answer is always going to be more
important than the number of pages you manage to produce, if the
objective is to achieve a high mark, good essays often tend to combine
cogent, well-structured and balanced arguments with good length. To
prepare for the examination you may wish to consider writing timed
essays on a regular basis well in advance of the examinations.
Remember, it is important to check the VLE for:
• up-to-date information on examination and assessment arrangements
for this course
• where available, past examination papers and Examiners’ commentaries
for the course which give advice on how each question might best be
answered.
8
Introduction
List of abbreviations
AEC
ASEAN Economic Community
ANZUS
Australia, New Zealand, United States
APEC
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
ARF
ASEAN Regional Forum
ASA
Association of Southeast Asia
ASC
ASEAN Security Community
ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BMD
Ballistic Missile Defence
CCP
Chinese Communist Party
CGDK
Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea
CNP
Comprehensive National Power
DPRK
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
EAEC
East Asian Economic Caucus
EAI
Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative
FDI
Foreign Direct Investment
FPDA
Five Powers Defence Arrangements
FTA
Free Trade Area
ICJ
International Court of Justice
ICK
International Conference on Kampuchea
IISS
International Institute for Strategic Studies
JI
Jemaah Islamiyah
KEDO
Korean Energy Development Organisation
KMTKuomintang
MFN
Most Favoured Nations
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Area
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
NLF
National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam
ODA
Official Development Assistance
PAVN
People’s Army of Vietnam
PLA
People’s Liberation Army
PRC
People’s Republic of China
ROC
Republic of China
ROK
Republic of Korea (South Korea)
SCO
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
SEAC
South East Asia Command
SEATO
Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation
SLD
Shangri-La Dialogue
SOM
Senior Officials Meeting
TAC
Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia
TRA
Taiwan Relations Act
UMNO
United Malays National Organisation
9
90 International politics of East Asia
10
USSR
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNSC
United Nations Security Council
WMD
Weapons of Mass Destruction
WTO
World Trade Organisation
ZOGPIN
Zone of Genuine Peace, Independence and Neutrality
ZOPFAN
Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality.
Introduction
Map of East Asia
East Asia
© Washington, D.C., Central Intelligence Agency, 2004. Reproduced with permission.
11
90 International politics of East Asia
Notes
12
Chapter 1: East Asia after the Pacific War
Chapter 1: East Asia after the Pacific War
Essential reading
Yahuda, Michael The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific. (London and New
York: Routledge, 2011) third edition [ISBN: 9780415474801]. Chapter 1.
Recommended reading
Buckley, Roger The United States in the Asia-Pacific since 1945 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2002) [ISBN: 0521007259].
Gaddis, John Lewis The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War.
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987)
[ISBN: 0195043359].
Goncharov, Sergei N., John W. Lewis, and Xue Litai Uncertain Partners: Stalin,
Mao, and the Korean War. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993)
[ISBN: 0804725217].
Tarling, Nicholas Nations and States in Southeast Asia. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998) [ISBN: 0521625645].
Aims of the chapter
This chapter introduces you to the outcome of the Pacific War and the
onset of the Cold War in Asia. It will focus on the reasons for China
‘leaning to one side’, the Korean War and its implications for East Asia’s
international politics, and the First Indochina War. It will also introduce
you to the prevalence of nationalism in the wake of colonialism and
Japanese imperialism.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter, and having completed the Essential readings
and activities, you should be able to:
• discuss the implications of the outcome of the Pacific War
• assess the impact of the Korean War on the region of East Asia
• discuss the rationale of the Yoshida Doctrine
• discuss the international context in which states in Southeast Asia
became independent
• assess the importance of nationalism in the international relations of
East Asia after the Pacific War.
Introduction
The advent of the Cold War in the late 1940s brought about a junction
in East Asia between the international, regional and local dimensions
of politics and military strategy. More precisely, it was the Korean War,
begun in June 1950, which effectively integrated East Asia into the Cold
War system that had first emerged in Europe. But unlike the situation in
Europe, where the Cold War divided the protagonists into clearly defined
camps of opposing ideological, economic and political systems separated
by an ‘iron curtain’, the divisions in East Asia were less clear-cut and were
still being contested long after they had been settled in Europe.
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90 International politics of East Asia
In the initial aftermath of the Second World War in East Asia, the US
exercised maritime hegemony in the Pacific, where it controlled Japan,
Okinawa and the Philippines. Japan adopted its ‘peace constitution’
in 1947. The Soviet Union exercised dominance over the landmass of
Northeast Asia. US President Truman consented to Moscow occupying
the entire Kuriles. With Kuomintang (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek
(Jiang Jiechi), the Soviet ruler Stalin signed a treaty securing a long-term
concession on Lushun (Port Arthur) and Dalien. The Chinese also conceded
control over the Eastern Railway, allowing the USSR de facto control over
Manchuria. The Korean Peninsula was divided between the US and the
USSR at the 38th parallel. The Atlantic Charter had included a reference
to the right of self-determination for all nations, but following the Second
World War East Asia’s colonial rulers for the most part sought to restore
the old colonial order. The United States was opposed to the restitution of
European empires in Asia, but its attitude changed in large part to avoid
undermining the position of fragile allied governments back in Europe.
China became engulfed by a civil war between the communist forces led by
Mao Zedong and the nationalist (KMT) forces led by Chiang Kai-shek.
The significance of the communist victory in China
The victory of the Chinese communists in 1949 fundamentally changed the
situation. Although disillusioned with the incompetence and corruption
of the Chiang Kai-shek government that it had supported, the US was
shaken by the military triumph of the communists, and its Cold War mood
deepened. The demoralised nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan where
the Americans were loath to support them. Yet despite much subsequent
discussion about the possibility of establishing a dialogue between
Washington and Beijing, nothing came of it.
Key bilateral relationships
China’s incoming communist regime, for reasons of security and
revolutionary objectives, did not opt to balance the two superpowers
but instead decided to lean towards one side. Mao’s victory in China
was something of a mixed blessing for Stalin. While he appreciated the
enormity of the setback that this meant for the US and the boost to the
communist international movement that this represented, it also posed
problems for the Soviet Union, given historical developments between
the two countries and agreements between Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek.
Mao’s eight-week visit to Moscow from December 1949 to February 1950
was uneasy and marked by distrust between the two leaders. In February
1950, Mao Zedong agreed to Stalin’s terms for a Sino-Soviet alliance that
was directed at ‘Japan or any state allied with her’. Notably, Mao failed to
move the relationship to a level of equality as Stalin forced Mao to accept
a treaty of alliance on terms that offended Mao’s sense of China’s dignity
by ensuring Soviet influence in Manchuria and Xinjiang.
President Truman and his Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, committed
themselves to a perimeter defence strategy in the West Pacific to include
Japan and the Philippines but not Korea or Taiwan. Washington had
been pushing for Japanese rearmament, not least against the backdrop
of the massive demobilisation of US forces in the aftermath of the
Second World War. Japan declined to rearm, however. In Article 9 of its
constitution the Japanese people expressly renounce war forever as a
sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of
settling international disputes. The article also vows that land, sea and
14
Chapter 1: East Asia after the Pacific War
air forces will never be maintained. Following the outbreak of the Korean
War, Japan opted to endorse a rather lopsided security treaty with the
United States that served Japan in so far as it helped Tokyo to enhance
its security without committing the country to assist the United States in
any ventures that would not be of its choosing. Significantly, the security
treaty also did not explicitly oblige the US to defend Japan. This approach,
which nevertheless allowed Japan to devote its energies to economic
reconstruction, was labelled the ‘Yoshida Doctrine’, after Prime Minister
Shigeru Yoshida.
Activities
1. What is understood by the ‘Yoshida Doctrine’?
2. What was the impact of Japan’s defeat on the country’s domestic order as well as its
foreign and defence policy?
3. Identify the main aspects of the rationale for Sino-Soviet strategic cooperation after
the Second World War.
The Korean War and its impact
In Korea the two regimes set up by East and West vied with each other to
lay claim to the right to rule the whole country. In the end Kim Il-Sung,
the leader of North Korea, persuaded Stalin, who had put him in power
and built up his army, that he could impose unity rapidly by force without
American intervention. Stalin’s cautious agreement was conditional
on that of Mao. Mao’s priority was Taiwan and Stalin had promised
assistance, so that Mao could not oppose Kim without endangering his
own goal, the attainment of which was dependent on support from
Moscow. On 25 June 1950, North Korea attacked the South.
Within days of the crossing of the 38th parallel by North Korean troops,
the US demonstrated significant resolve by interposing the Seventh
Fleet in the Taiwan Strait, imposing an economic embargo on China and
obtaining from the UN Security Council (UNSC) a Chapter VII Resolution
for a ‘police action’ in Korea. This was possible only because at the time
the USSR, one of the five permanent members of the UNSC holding
veto power, was boycotting UNSC meetings, ostensibly to protest at the
representation of Taipei instead of Beijing. This approach allowed both
Washington and Moscow to avoid declaring war on each other, a step that
could have prompted the activation of the Sino-Soviet alliance. When
after some months US forces managed to reverse the fortunes of war and
started to advance towards the Yalu River, the Chinese leadership faced
a major foreign policy crisis. By the end of the year, Chinese forces had
intervened to prevent victorious allied troops from reaching the Chinese
border at the Yalu River. Unlike the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of
China (PRC) contributed hundreds of thousands of troops to the North’s
war effort to protect both its industries in the northeast and its revolution.
The last two years of the Korean War saw military stalemate and political
deadlock that were only overcome in 1953. An armistice rather than a
peace treaty ended the military confrontation. The highly destructive war
eventually ended at roughly the positions that prevailed before the war.
It came to be called the ‘first limited war’, as both the Americans and the
Soviets took great pains to prevent the war from escalating to bring them
into direct conflict. In the conditions of the nuclear age both recognised
that they had to cooperate at least tacitly despite their fundamental
conflict. But the war left China and the US in bitter enmity. The Korean
War left not only Korea a divided country but also China.
15
90 International politics of East Asia
The war set the terms for the Cold War in East Asia. On the communist
side, it cemented the Sino-Soviet alliance. On the American side, it had
the effect of instituting the strategy of containment. Just as in Europe a
line was drawn between the two sides, so the US attempted to draw one
in East Asia. Washington and Tokyo signed the US–Japan security treaty in
San Francisco in September 1951, literally only hours after concluding a
treaty of peace with the Allied Powers. The United States failed, however,
to establish a multilateral security alliance along North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation lines. The US had wanted the establishment of a collective
defence mechanism that would also include Australia, New Zealand, the
Philippines and possibly Indonesia. The problems associated with this
plan made Australia and New Zealand prefer a separate treaty with the
United States. The ANZUS Pact, signed in September 1951, came into
force in late April 1952. Disagreements on Southeast Asian participation
also existed between the US and the British. China’s neighbours, moreover,
did not want to be drawn into the remnant of the civil war between the
Chinese communists and their nationalist adversaries who had withdrawn
defeated, but defiant, to their redoubt in Taiwan.
Consequently the US had to settle for a series of (in essence) bilateral
security treaties with its allies Japan, South Korea, Nationalist China and
the Philippines. Japan became the lynchpin of American policies in East
Asia, both as the most reliable base for its strategic operations and as a
growing economic powerhouse for the region even though, by the 1970s,
it was to become a problematic trading partner for the US itself.
Activities
1. Compare the positions of China and the Soviet Union towards North Korea’s invasion
of the South.
2. Read the text of the Security Treaty of 8 September 1951 (the text is reprinted, for
instance, in Hook et al., 2001, pp.469–70).
3. List the problems the United States encountered in setting up a collective defence
mechanism in East Asia.
The strategy of containment
The American strategy of containment included elements of a balance-ofpower approach as applied to the Soviet Union. But in so far as it sought
to draw a line beyond which no further communist takeovers of other
states could take place, it went beyond that and transformed America
into a kind of ‘global policeman’. Containment also aimed to strengthen
democracy and market economies as part of the resistance to further
communist encroachments by either straightforward military means – as
in Korea – or through insurgency – as in Vietnam. For the United States,
Vietnam came to be seen as an issue of great significance. Washington
began to assist the French even before the outbreak of the war in Korea.
President Eisenhower argued that if the communists were to succeed in
Vietnam, the other Indochinese countries and then the rest of Southeast
Asia would fall like dominoes. Ultimately, such a development would
threaten America’s allies in Australia and Japan. The defeat of the French
was settled by the Geneva agreements of 1954, which in effect divided
Vietnam into a communist North and US-supported South Vietnam.
Activity
What are the origins of US containment policy? Read The Long Telegram by George F.
Kennan and NSC-68 (www. mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/nsc-68/nsc68-1.htm).
16
Chapter 1: East Asia after the Pacific War
The newly independent states in Southeast Asia
Nearly all of the states of East Asia may be said to be new or to have
begun altogether new departures since the end of the Second World War.
The legacy of the Japanese had been first of all to shatter the myths of
colonial white superiority and, secondly, to accelerate the nationalist drive
for independence. With the exception of Thailand, all of the other states
of Southeast Asia had to gain independence from their colonial masters.
The international aspects of the end of the Pacific War contributed to
shaping the subsequent development of independence in the resident
states. The South East Asian Command (SEAC) under British leadership
lacked the resources to cope with the sudden and unexpected surrender of
the Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. This led to delays in establishing a
significant SEAC presence in the Dutch East Indies and French Indochina
in particular. Vietnam was divided into a China theatre, north of the 16th
parallel; with the Southeast Asia Command south thereof.
Consequently, nationalist groups filled the resulting vacuum; this led to
armed confrontations as the Dutch and the French later returned in force.
Indeed, armed struggle that inevitably acquired external dimensions
became a feature of the attainment of independence in both territories.
The manner of their achieving independence greatly shaped their
subsequent foreign policies. The impact of the communist victory in the
Chinese civil war in the late 1940s was also widely felt in the region as an
inspiration to and source of support for insurgents and as a challenge to
incumbent elites.
Three levels of foreign relations may be identified in the early evolution
of the foreign relations of the states of Southeast Asia. Firstly, the
process of acquiring independence and the character of the post-colonial
settlement involved relations with former rulers. In some cases, these
endured in relative harmony well beyond the transfer of sovereignty. The
second level involved local reactions to great-power involvement in the
region. The third involved intra-regional relations among the resident
states. More broadly, by taking different roads to independence the new
states became embroiled in the wider struggles of international politics
that centred on Cold War issues; indeed, the respective experiences of
achieving independence greatly influenced the subsequent alignments and
international roles of the new states.
The separate experiences of independence
The Philippines became independent from the United States on 4 July
1946, but remained a close associate of Washington. The US had
promised independence even before the war and it moved to grant it
speedily once the war had ended. From the outset, the Filipino elite
nevertheless accepted a continued dependency on the US. It was not
until the US abandoned its bases there at the end of the Cold War that
the Philippines began to move beyond its highly ambivalent position
that sought to balance the Philippines’ professed Asian identity with its
dependence on America. This pattern was evident from the acquisition of
independence.
Indonesia, by contrast, professed great attachment to what became known
as non-alignment. It proclaimed independence in 1945 before the arrival
of European troops and spent the next four years in armed struggle
and negotiations with the Dutch. By suppressing a communist uprising
in Mediun in 1948, the new Indonesian army and the independence
17
90 International politics of East Asia
movement won American backing, which was instrumental in putting
sufficient pressure on the Dutch to concede.
The French in Indochina also sought to regain control of the former
colony from a nationalist movement, which had declared independence
immediately after the Japanese surrender. But the Vietminh was
communist-dominated under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. The French
were unable to defeat the nationalistic communists, who were able to
upgrade their military actions once the Chinese communists won victory
across their northern border.
In contrast to the Dutch and the French, the British did not stand in the
way of independence for Burma and they sought to encourage Malaya
on the road to independence. The Malay elite was close to Britain and
espoused democratic values. But the British task was complicated by the
legacy of the migrant Chinese (and also Indian) labour that they had
originally encouraged to settle. The resulting communal differences led
the predominantly Chinese Malay Communist Party to turn to armed
struggle in 1948. The back of the insurgency was broken in the mid-1950s,
largely through an effective ‘hearts and minds’ campaign, but what was
termed ‘the emergency’ lasted until 1960. By this time a pact had been
reached between the main Malay political party, United Malays National
Organisation (UMNO), and the Chinese anti-communist commercial and
professional party, the Malaysian Chinese Association, which paved the
way for independence in 1957.
Southeast Asia
Although rich in resources, the region was not accorded the kind
of significance given by the United States to Europe or Japan in the
immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Until 1949 Southeast
Asia also received only limited attention from the USSR and China. The
military victory of the Chinese communist forces over their nationalist
rivals changed that. Even before the establishment of the People’s Republic
of China, Chinese communist leaders had called for the formation of
an anti-imperialist alliance including Burma, Thailand, the Philippines,
Indonesia and the Indochinese states. Washington did not want the
communists to capture the nationalist revolutions, while emphasising the
need for access to resources and safe lines of communication. By 1949
the United States was determined to check the communist advance in
Asia. Southeast Asia was to be denied to the communists as it was seen
as critical to the security of India, Australia and Japan. The US provided
economic assistance, welcomed by Southeast Asian states. Some entered
into alliances with the United States. For instance, the Philippines signed
in 1951 the Treaty of Mutual Defence with the United States. However,
several other Southeast Asian countries adopted neutralist foreign policies
following independence, including Indonesia, Burma, Laos and Cambodia.
Activities
1. What was the significance of nationalism in the politics and foreign policy of
Southeast Asian states at the time of independence?
2. Draw up a list indicating how political identities of the new states in Southeast
Asia differed from one another and what this implied for the foreign policies of the
countries concerned.
3. Look up the term ‘non-alignment’.
18
Chapter 1: East Asia after the Pacific War
Internationalisation of the war in Vietnam
As the Democratic Republic of Vietnam became more closely associated
with the Eastern bloc, the United States resolved that the Vietminh
must be defeated and France supported. France gained leverage as US
apprehensions increased over the consequences of China’s advance and
the possibility that resistance in Indochina would collapse. Washington
thus failed to persuade the French to arrive at a practical solution with the
nationalists. US thinking focused on the implications of Vietnam falling
to the communists. The fear in Washington was that Burma and Thailand
would come under communist domination, making the Philippines and
Indonesia frontline states for the defence of the West. Eventually, all of
Southeast Asia would fall, allowing the USSR access to raw materials
which might shift the balance of power in its favour. This was the so-called
‘domino theory’. Another concern was that under such a scenario Japan
would also be denied access to Asian markets, not least food and raw
materials. This warranted greater economic and military assistance on the
part of the US. For France, the question of Vietnam was inextricably linked
with the question of whether France would remain a major power.
Activities
1. Why was no equivalent to NATO formed in East Asia after the Pacific War?
2. Did East Asia make for a coherent region in the Cold War period?
Reminder of your learning outcomes
Having completed this chapter, and the Essential readings and activities,
you should be able to:
• discuss the implications of the outcome of the Pacific War
• describe the impact of the Korean War on the region of East Asia
• discuss the rationale of the Yoshida Doctrine
• explain the international context in which states in Southeast Asia
became independent
• explain the importance of nationalism in the international relations of
East Asia after the Pacific War.
19
90 International politics of East Asia
Notes
20
Chapter 2: International politics of Northeast Asia, 1954–70
Chapter 2: International politics of
Northeast Asia, 1954–70
Essential reading
Yahuda, Michael The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific. (London and New
York: Routledge, 2011) third edition [ISBN: 9780415474801]. Chapters
4–6.
Recommended reading
Chen, Jian Mao’s China and the Cold War. (University of North Carolina Press,
2001) [ISBN: 0807849324]. Chapters 3 and 7.
Hook, Glenn D., Julie Gilson, Christopher W. Hughes and Hugo Dobson Japan’s
International Relations: Politics, Economics and security. (London: Routledge,
2001) [ISBN: 0415240980]. Chapters 4 and 6.
Hughes, Christopher W. Japan’s Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power.
(London: Oxford University Press for IISS, 2004) [ISBN: 0198567588].
Chapter 1.
Further reading
Garver, John W. The Sino-American Alliance: Nationalist China and American
Cold War Strategy in Asia. (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997)
[ISBN: 0765600536].
Goncharov, Sergei N., John W. Lewis and Xue Litai Uncertain Partners: Stalin,
Mao, and the Korean War. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992)
[ISBN: 0804725217].
Yahuda, Michael China’s Role in World Affairs. (London: Croom Helm, 1978)
[ISBN: 0709901569].
Aims of the chapter
This chapter introduces you to some of the major developments in the
international politics of Northeast Asia in the wake of the Korean War.
In particular, it will focus on the bilateral relations involving the Soviet
Union and the United States with both China and Japan. The chapter will
cover the two crises across the Taiwan Strait, the Sino-Soviet split and the
implications for China of US–Soviet détente.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter, and having completed the Essential readings
and activities, you should be able to:
• discuss the development of the Japan–US security relationship
• explain the outbreak of the First and Second Taiwan Strait crises
• discuss the reasons for the Sino-Soviet split.
Introduction
With the containment strategy taking hold in Asia, US essential interest
focused on maintaining the strategic security of Japan. Despite the ending
of the Korean War in a technical sense, the region continued to see
considerable dispute, including the two crises across the Taiwan Strait.
21
90 International politics of East Asia
By the 1960s, the Sino-Soviet alliance was in tatters as the two countries
clashed over key aspects of ideology and policies.
Evolving US–Japan security relations
Under the bilateral security treaty, Japan was obliged to provide the
United States with access to military bases to allow Washington to project
military power onto the Asian continent. Japan assumed a measure of
responsibility for national self-defence. In return, Japan obtained de facto
US security guarantees, which focused on forward-deployed forces and the
US extended nuclear umbrella. This strategic bargain involved the usual
risks of abandonment and entrapment. As regards entrapment, Tokyo was
concerned that the US might adopt policies that would see Japan involved
in key regional conflicts such as Taiwan.
According to Hughes (2004), Japan did not see itself as strictly allied to
the US because it was not prepared to make an active contribution to US
strategy in the region. In other words, the security treaty was not, at the
time, regarded by Tokyo as an alliance relationship. A number of examples
illustrate Japan’s stance. One of the first important initiatives undertaken
by Prime Minister Yoshida was the reopening of trade relations with
the PRC as early as 1952, despite the American embargo. His successor,
taking advantage of the more relaxed international climate of 1956, also
established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, following Soviet
efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with Japan. Thirdly, there was the
issue of whether nuclear weapons could be introduced into Japan. In the
event, it proved necessary for the United States and Japan to revise the
1951 security treaty. The subsequent 1960 Treaty of Mutual Cooperation
and Security explicitly afforded US security protection, stating that any
attack on the territory of Japan was recognised as an attack on both treaty
partners. According to Article 6 of the treaty, Japan would contribute to
its security by supplying bases to the US for the maintenance of security
in the Far East. Prime Minister Kishi limited the scope of the revised
security treaty to areas north of the Philippines and surrounding Japan
as well as areas under the control of South Korea and Taiwan. The treaty
also emphasised bilateral consultations from time to time regarding its
implementation and at the request of either party, whenever the security of
Japan or international peace and security in the Far East were considered
to be threatened.
The deployment by the US of ballistic nuclear missile submarines (SSBN)
averted the deployment of medium-range nuclear missiles in Japan. With
asymmetrical security guarantees in place, Japan could concentrate above
all on building on its economic success. Notably, in the economic arena
Japan benefited greatly from open American markets with no requirement
for reciprocity. While not participating in it, Japan benefited particularly
handsomely in economic terms from the Vietnam War.
Activities
1. Read and compare the text of the 1951 and 1960 US–Japan security treaties.
2. Identify reasons why the Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty has been described
as a ‘cap in the bottle’.
3. How did Soviet–Japanese relations evolve after the establishment of diplomatic
relations?
22
Chapter 2: International politics of Northeast Asia, 1954–70
Taiwan in Sino–US relations, offshore crises
The 1950s saw two crises across the Taiwan Strait. The first occurred
in 1954, when Mao started to fire artillery shells on Jinmen (Quemoy),
situated opposite the mainland Chinese city of Xiamen. This crisis took
place apparently to dissuade the United States from including Taiwan
(the Republic of China, ROC) in the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation
(SEATO). It was preceded by the decision of US President Eisenhower
in February 1953 to lift the US Navy blockade that had prevented the
nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek from mounting an assault on the
Chinese mainland. By August 1954, when Premier Zhou Enlai called for
the liberation of Taiwan, Chiang had moved tens of thousands of troops to
the offshore islands of Jinmen and Mazu (Matsu), the latter lying opposite
Fuzhou. This raised the possibility of the ROC disrupting sea traffic along
a significant stretch of the PRC’s southeastern coastline. Despite a warning
by the United States against taking action against KMT forces, the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA) started an artillery bombardment of the island of
Jinmen. Chiang’s ROC forces lost Yijiangshan island (the northern tip of
the Dachen islands opposite Zhejiang Province) in early 1955. The crisis
ended when the mainland ceased to shell Jinmen and Mazu in May 1955.
The fallout of the crisis was significant. The United States responded by
deploying three aircraft carrier battle groups. Washington also intimated
its preparedness to use nuclear weapons against China. In the event, if the
PRC sought to undermine the ROC’s inclusion in SEATO, Chinese attempts
at political intimidation also backfired in so far as the US decided to
accelerate negotiations with Taiwan with respect to a defence guarantee.
This was enshrined within a few months of the start of the crisis in the
form of the bilateral Mutual Defence Treaty signed in December 1954
and ratified by the US Senate in February 1955. Even if the treaty only
covered Taiwan, the Pescadores and US islands in the Western Pacific (and
not the offshore islands), for China the bilateral defence treaty had the
consequence of seriously complicating the task of liberating Taiwan.
The second crisis across the Strait broke out in August 1958, when the PLA
initiated a 44-day artillery bombardment of Jinmen. The PRC’s airforce and
navy also participated in the assault. This renewed crisis evidently served
to achieve the domestic mobilisation considered necessary by Mao Zedong
to make progress with China’s ‘continuous revolution’ (which also led to
the Great Leap Forward) in the context of intra-Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) conflict. The initiation of this crisis was also an attempt to signal to
the United States that China rather than the Soviet Union was the veritable
challenger to US regional and global hegemony. The crisis came only a day
after President Eisenhower had publicly called on the Soviets to negotiate
a limited ban on nuclear testing. The outcome of the second cross-Strait
crisis was that the Eisenhower administration felt obliged to clarify that
the islands of Jinmen and Mazu should remain outposts of the free world
and that the US would not retreat ‘in the face of armed aggression’.
Washington also restated its preparedness to use nuclear weapons against
Beijing. Though the crisis had ended by October 1958, the bombardment of
Jinmen, mostly on alternate days, continued until the 1970s.
Activities
1. Why did Beijing initiate the first and second Taiwan Strait crises? Distinguish between
international and domestic factors.
2. What were the implications of the two crises?
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90 International politics of East Asia
Sino–Soviet relations
The relationship with the Soviet Union was crucial for Mao to achieve
China’s objective of continuous revolution. However, the bilateral
relationship was complicated by psychology. Mao resented the inequality
in the relationship with Moscow, and Stalin in particular. When
Khrushchev replaced Stalin, Mao was increasingly reluctant to look up to
the USSR. He also disagreed fundamentally with Khrushchev’s programme
of de-Stalinisation. In the light of what were considered ‘revisionist’
changes in Soviet policy, China soon saw itself as the most qualified
leader of the communist world. Questions about Chinese sovereignty also
remained. Although Khrushchev returned Manchurian ports ceded to
Stalin, the Chinese saw Khrushchev’s subsequent idea of building a joint
fleet and allowing Soviet submarines to access the Chinese coast as an
affront to Chinese sovereignty.
Internationally, for China, the Soviet emphasis on détente with the West
compared negatively with the revolutionary stance adopted by Mao. The
two sides also disagreed about the possible ramifications of Mao’s conflict
with Taiwan. In fact, Moscow was not keen to see Beijing initiate the 1958
Taiwan Strait crisis. Khrushchev was disturbed by Chinese talk about its
ability to withstand a nuclear exchange with the United States, not least
given the alliance treaty existing between the two sides. A full Sino–Soviet
split was only a matter of time, and it became public in 1960. By then
the Soviet Union had withdrawn its advisers from China. Mao had railed
against the Soviet Union to enhance his domestic political position in the
aftermath of the Great Leap Forward. He was fundamentally of the view
that he should fight imperialists, revisionists and reactionaries, as well as
promoting revolution at home. Mao found Moscow supportive of India in
the 1962 war and accused Khrushchev of capitulating to the Americans
in the Cuban missile crisis. Relations between China and the Soviet Union
deteriorated further under Leonid Brezhnev, who succeeded Khrushchev in
1964. The USSR refused China technology to produce nuclear weapons, as
agreed only in 1957, and clashed with Chinese forces along the border in
the late 1960s.
Activities
1. List the main reasons for the Sino–Soviet split.
2. How important had the Sino–Soviet alliance been from the perspective of Beijing in
relation to security and development?
Soviet Union–Japan relations
Although the state of war between Japan and the Soviet Union was
terminated and formal bilateral relations were established in 1956,
the bilateral relationship did not move forward much. Both Tokyo and
Moscow remained caught up in a web of incompatible territorial claims
and historical suspicions, which in Japan were reinforced by a deeply
felt sense of betrayal at the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against
Japan. Following the end of the war, Moscow sought to tempt Tokyo to
neutralise Japan, but this came to nothing, in part because no satisfactory
settlement could be reached on the two sides’ territorial dispute over the
four northern islands that Soviet forces had wrested from Japan in the
dying hours of the Pacific War. In 1955, the US stepped in to prevent a
peace treaty between Moscow and Tokyo that might have seen the return
to Japan of only two of the four islands (Habomais and Shikotan). To
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Chapter 2: International politics of Northeast Asia, 1954–70
force Tokyo’s hand in the matter, the US threatened to retain Okinawa
in perpetuity. Thereafter, Moscow did not pursue again the attempt to
drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. The territorial dispute
over the northern islands has remained the main impediment to marked
improvements in Russia–Japan relations.
Activity
What was the status of Okinawa?
Reminder of your learning outcomes
Having completed this chapter, and the Essential readings and activities,
you should be able to:
• discuss the development of the Japan–US security relationship
• explain the outbreak of the First and Second Taiwan Strait crises
• discuss the reasons for the Sino–Soviet split.
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90 International politics of East Asia
Notes
26
Chapter 3: The international politics of Southeast Asia, 1954–66
Chapter 3: The international politics of
Southeast Asia, 1954–66
Essential reading
Acharya, Amitav Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN
and the problem of regional order. (London: Routledge, 2009)
[ISBN: 9780415414296]. Chapter 3.
Yahuda, Michael The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific. (London and New
York: Routledge, 2011) third edition [ISBN: 9780415474801]. Chapter 2.
Recommended reading
Chen, Jian Mao’s China and the Cold War. (Chapel Hill and London: University
of North Carolina Press, 2001) [ISBN: 0807849324]. Chapters 5 and 8.
Turnbull, C.M. ‘Regionalism and Nationalism’ in The Cambridge History
of Southeast Asia, Vol II, Part Two: From World War II to the present.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) [ISBN: 0521663725]. Chapter 5.
Further reading
McMahon, Robert J. Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War. (Boston
and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003) third edition [ISBN: 061819312X].
Aim of the chapter
The aim of this chapter is to introduce you to the international relations of
Southeast Asia in the aftermath of the 1954 Geneva Agreement. It looks
at the emergence of new states, the salience of nationalism, the creation
of SEATO, the onset of the Second Indochina War, and the development of
new regional arrangements.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter and having completed the Essential readings
and activities, you should be able to:
• describe the role of the United States in Southeast Asia between 1954
and the late 1960s
• explain the rise and fall of SEATO
• discuss the pervasive and strong sense of nationalism in Southeast Asia
up to the late 1960s
• discuss the arguments around regional cohesion and identity in
Southeast Asia before 1967.
Introduction
The international politics of Southeast Asia during this period saw the
confluence of three historical forces: nationalism, decolonisation and the
advent of the Cold War. Having for the most part inherited multi-ethnic
and weak states, the new governments found it difficult to manage their
domestic security problems. This opened the region up to competition
and conflict between the two ideological camps and, as such, among the
major powers, the US and China, and later, the Soviet Union and China.
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90 International politics of East Asia
Significantly, from the perspective of the new states, both state and regime
security were in many cases dependent on external support, complicating
the formation of a regional identity.
The Geneva Settlement
The 1954 Geneva agreements provided no solution to the nationalist
conflict in Vietnam. Coming to Geneva, North Vietnam believed it could
extract concessions on the basis of the stunning military victory over the
French at Dien Bien Phu. But its backers, the Chinese above all, were
willing to accede to the temporary division of Vietnam, arguing that this
would allow the Vietminh to retain control over the north and later win
the south by way of elections. In the event, agreement was reached that
Vietnam would be split into two halves along the seventeenth parallel.
This left communist North Vietnam seriously upset in so far as Beijing was
seen to have struck a deal with the other great powers at its expense. From
the Chinese perspective the outcome was excellent because North Vietnam
became a buffer zone between the PRC and the US-influenced capitalist
part of Southeast Asia. However, the settlement certainly failed to prevent
the further internationalisation of the Vietnam War in later years.
Activity
Compare and contrast the stance at, and reaction of, the US, China and Vietnam to the
Geneva Agreement.
The establishment of SEATO
The South East Asian Treaty Organisation was established consequent to
the 1954 defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Agreement
on Indochina. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had proposed a
formal collective security treaty even before the Geneva Conference. Its
membership included the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand,
France, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand. SEATO was based on the
September 1954 Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty (Manila Pact).
SEATO failed to attract regional states like Indonesia and Burma, which
preferred an independent and non-aligned foreign policy. Other Southeast
Asian countries did not see SEATO as an appropriate vehicle to enhance
their security, given that they were concerned primarily with insurgencies,
domestic revolutions and problems of internal stability. In the event,
SEATO also attracted criticism from within. Thailand, Australia, New
Zealand and the Philippines all regarded the institution as rather weak.
The main reason was that the organisation did not involve a full American
commitment to their defence, as was available to NATO members.
According to Article IV (1) of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty,
each party recognised that aggression by means of armed attack in the
treaty area against any of the parties or against any state or territory which
the parties may designate by unanimous agreement, would endanger its
own peace and safety, and agreed that in that event it would act to meet
the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes.
Vietnam and China viewed the creation of SEATO with considerable
suspicion, believing that the organisation did not merely serve its stated
purpose of reinforcing the Geneva Agreement. SEATO failed to intervene
in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, as the organisation did not achieve the
required unanimity in relation to decisions for any interventions. SEATO
was ultimately disbanded in 1977.
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Chapter 3: The international politics of Southeast Asia, 1954–66
Activities
1. List the reasons for establishing SEATO.
2. Why did countries like Indonesia and Burma not want to join SEATO?
The Bandung Conference
Against the backdrop of the Cold War bloc politics engulfing Southeast
and East Asia, the Bandung conference in 1955 represented an early
expression of non-alignment in world politics. The event brought together
29 African and Asian countries, including most Southeast Asian countries.
No common Southeast Asian perspective emerged, however. The region
was split between those worrying about the communist threat and those
articulating neutralist policy positions to safeguard sovereignty and
security. China also played a major role at the Bandung Conference.
These found renewed expression in the 10 Bandung Principles. The
dominant leaders at the conference were Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru and Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. The Bandung Conference
led to the formation of the non-aligned movement. In terms of its political
thrust, the Bandung Conference also informed the later development of
regionalism in Southeast Asia in that none of the regional arrangements
was beholden to either superpower bloc.
The Bandung conference adopted the 10 Bandung Principles, which built
on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence which are:
1. mutual respect of each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty
2. mutual non-aggression
3. mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs
4. equality and mutual benefit
5. peaceful coexistence.
Activity
Compare the text of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence with the Ten Bandung
Principles.
The Second Indochina War
In South Vietnam the United States supported Ngo Dinh Diem, who
became president in 1955. On the grounds that South Vietnam was not
party to the Geneva Agreement, Diem, with support from the United
States, refused to proceed with the elections due to be held in 1956. This
effectively prompted the Second Indochina War. It was also one of the
reasons for the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of South
Vietnam (NLF, Vietcong). By 1961 the Geneva Agreement had collapsed.
Against the background of the increasing success of anti-Diem forces, the
United States nevertheless continued to support the regime. President
Kennedy initially committed military advisers only, yet within a few years
the US had organised a major build-up of military forces that reached a
level of more than half a million troops by 1967.
America’s war effort in Vietnam was complicated by the Vietminh’s use
of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, along which it received supplies from North
Vietnam, in violation of the territorial integrity of Cambodia and Laos.
Indeed, North Vietnam supported both the communist Pathet Lao in Laos
and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia against the incumbent regimes in the
two neighbouring countries. Laos was officially neutral and the United
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90 International politics of East Asia
States was constrained by the 1962 Geneva Accords, which did not allow
for American military involvement in the country. Washington nevertheless
fought a secret war in Laos between 1964 and 1973, while providing
support to the Royal Lao government against the Pathet Lao. Following the
deposing of Norodom Sihanouk by Lon Nol in 1970, the United States also
mounted military operations in Cambodia to destroy NLF sanctuaries.
Due in part to the political and operational constraints under which it
was operating, the United States could not win the Second Indochina
War. Following the Tet Offensive by the NLF and North Vietnam’s People’s
Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in early 1968, US President Lyndon B. Johnson
declared in March 1968 that he would not run for re-election. Johnson
subsequently announced his ‘October surprise’, whereby the US would
cease all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam effective
from November 1968. The following year, the incoming Republican
administration promulgated the Nixon Doctrine (which stated that
although the US would honour its security commitments and continue
to offer a nuclear shield against nuclear powers, its Asian allies would
henceforth be expected to assume the primary responsibility for providing
the manpower necessary to their defence in the event of a conventional
war). This policy decision subsequently ushered in the Vietnamisation of
the war effort. In January 1973 Washington signed the Paris Peace Accords
that formally ended US involvement in the war, although US defence
commitments were still valued (the Nixon Doctrine gave rise to doubts
about the credibility of Washington’s security commitments). Southeast
Asian countries thus felt it was prudent to reconsider their respective basic
foreign policy outlook. Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines were the
first to decide on the reorientation of their respective foreign policy.
Activities
1. Find out more about the Second Indochina War by ascertaining how Southeast Asian
countries were involved in the Vietnam War.
2. Explain the decision to promulgate the Nixon Doctrine.
The creation of Malaysia
With Malaya having already become independent in 1957, Singapore was
to achieve independence in the context of a merger with the Republic of
Malaya in 1963. Malay leaders sought to facilitate the absorption of the
predominantly ethnic Chinese Singapore by also extending the Malaysian
Federation to the three Borneo territories (Sarawak, British North Borneo
(Sabah) and Brunei). In the event, the latter opted instead for autonomy
under continued British sovereignty, but the other two territories merged
with Malaya following some controversy. The establishment of the
Malaysian Federation also became a cause of major irritation for both
Indonesia and the Philippines. From the perspective of Indonesia, Malaysia
was a colonial construct that remained ultimately beholden to its former
colonial master, which is why it was considered to lack legitimacy. To some
extent, the resistance of Indonesia’s President Sukarno to the creation of
Malaysia was motivated by concerns about security and regional order
in that the continued role of Britain in Southeast Asia could potentially
challenge the country’s independence. A key issue in this regard was
the decision to extend the 1957 Anglo–Malayan Defence Agreement to
cover the entire Malaysia. There was also the broader incompatibility
between the role of former colonial powers in maintaining regional
security and Indonesia’s assertion of a claim to regional leadership in
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Chapter 3: The international politics of Southeast Asia, 1954–66
maritime Southeast Asia. President Sukarno launched the ‘Crush Malaysia’
campaign, involving raids along the Sarawak–Kalimantan border and
incursions into Singapore and the Malay Peninsula.
Meanwhile, Manila raised a claim with Kuala Lumpur over Sabah that
was to poison bilateral relations for a considerable time. The Philippines
also preferred Maphilindo as an alternative to Malaysia’s Association of
Southeast Asia as a vehicle for regional cooperation; however, due to the
territorial conflict over Sabah, Maphilindo was a still-born, institutionally
exclusive arrangement set up at the initiative of the Philippines, bringing
together Manila, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
Activities
1. What factors influenced Indonesian foreign policy vis-à-vis the newly established
Malaysia?
2. Find out what the Sabah conflict was about.
First steps toward regionalism
Malayan President Tunku Abdul Rahman advocated regional economic
cooperation, not least to deal with political and security effects of
underdevelopment. For this purpose, in 1961 Malaya, Thailand and the
Philippines founded the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA). Its declared
economic purpose notwithstanding, Indonesia was suspicious of the ASA
as all three of its members were allied or aligned with the West. In the
event, the ASA failed to make headway due to the claim to Sabah advanced
by the Philippines in 1962. In the context of Indonesia’s konfrontasi from
1963 to 1965, the question of regional arrangements involving the main
maritime states of Southeast Asia was not at all prominent, but regional
organisation was seen as one way to deal with the consequences and
aftermath of confrontation. Also, in 1966 British Prime Minister Harold
Wilson announced the withdrawal of British military forces ‘east of
Suez’ by the mid-1970s, raising the question of whether Southeast Asia’s
reliance on extra-regional powers could continue as before. In the event,
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (see Chapter 5) became the
successor to ASA, with the Anglo–Malaysian Defence Agreement replaced
by the Five Power Defence Arrangements involving Britain, Australia, New
Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia (see Chapter 12).
Activities
1. What was the purpose of the initial attempts at regional institution-building in
Southeast Asia?
2. Why did these efforts not succeed?
Reminder of your learning outcomes
Having completed this chapter, and the Essential readings and activities,
you should be able to:
• describe the role of the United States in Southeast Asia between 1954
and the late 1960s
• explain the rise and fall of SEATO
• discuss the pervasive and strong sense of nationalism in Southeast Asia
up to the late 1960s
• discuss the arguments around regional cohesion and identity in
Southeast Asia before 1967.
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90 International politics of East Asia
Notes
32