2.1 US containment in Asia

Question 1

Who was General Douglas MacArthur?

Answer 1

• Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP)
• Given decision making powers in Japan

Question 2

What reforms did the US introduce in Japan before reverse course?

Answer 2

• Demilitarisation
• Breaking up Zaibatsu to create a capitalist system - short term worsened Japanese economic crisis.
• Emperor’s powers significantly reduced.
• May 1947 constitution: Japan given a Parliament
• regular elections and increased civil rights
• Article 9 of constitution forbade Japan from maintaining an army, navy or air force (did have the Japan Self-Defense Forces from 1954)

Question 3

Describe the ‘reverse course’ of summer 1947

Answer 3

• Kennan argued rebuilding Japan and Germany would make them ‘immune to Communism’.
• Japan wouldn’t have to pay reparations, de-industrialisation abandoned (Zaibatsu called back).
• $500 million sent to help economic recovery.
• War criminal government officials kept in positions of power to prioritise growth.

Question 4

What two treaties were made with Japan in September 1951?

Answer 4

• San Francisco Treaty - recognised sovereignty of Japanese people, Japan renounced claims to surrounding territories
• US-Japan Security Treaty - US given unrestricted access to military bases in Japan, control of Okinawa, right to use military force to intervene in internal disorder in Japan

Question 5

What events increased Japan’s importance?

Answer 5

Chinese Civil war 1949 and Korean War 1950-53

Question 6

What were the two sides of the Chinese Civil war 1949?

Answer 6

• Guomindang (GMD)
• middle class right wing nationalists led by Jaing Jieshi
• Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong
• Stalin secretly gave weapons machinery to maintain relations with USA.
• Their army People’s Liberation Army (PLA) emerged victorious

Question 7

How and why did Truman support Jieshi?

Answer 7

• China lobby (congress) desperate not to ‘lose China’
• Truman convinced Mao was a Soviet puppet - expansion of Communism
• Truman gave $2.8 billion in aid but Jieshi was corrupt

Question 8

Describe the response to the ‘loss’ of China

Answer 8

• Huge American shock
• Propaganda, arrogance - used to winning
• Some of congress believed Truman was aiding Stalin’s expansion.

Question 9

When was the People’s Republic of China proclaimed? What happened to the GMD?

Answer 9

• Oct 1949
• established on island of Taiwan
• GMD recognised as sovereign China by Western Nations and UN

Question 10

What was Stalin’s response to CPP winning Chinese Civil war?

Answer 10

• Feb 1950 Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship
• didn’t support Mao- aimed to reduce foreign interference in China.
• forced to claim CCP’s victory as his own.

Question 11

Who was Dean Acheson?

Answer 11

Secretary of State under Truman

Question 12

Describe the Defensive Perimeter Strategy

Answer 12

• Jan 1950
• Acheson drew up - later criticised for not protecting South Korea from communist expansion.
• He saw it as the military defence of Japan.
• False impression the US doesn’t care about Korea

Question 13

Describe NSC-68

Answer 13

• April 1950
• Triggered by loss of China and loss on nuclear monopoly
• Stressed importance of building US political, economic and military power.
• Focused on globalisation of Cold War, passive (economic) to active (military) containment