(5) US Containment in Asia Flashcards
What did USA do in Japan after WW2?
- US focused on the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese State.
- The USA introduced what became known as its ‘reverse course’ towards Japan.
What had the ‘Reverse Course’ strategy in Japan established?
- Strong democratic institutions in Japan, with a firm effort towards economic reconstruction to open the region up to US exports.
What did the USA’s involvement in Japan ensure?
- Ensures that Japan is aligned to the USA and less vulnerable to communist influences in the Far East.
- Ensures USA can hold a geostrategic stronghold in Japan, a crucial component to help contain communism in the far east.
How is economic stabilisation achieved in Japan?
- Increased regulation of trade/foreign exchange
- A balanced budget - ‘super balanced budget’, all government income and expenditure was heavily monitored and conformed to strict guidelines, also ensuring a surplus of money to be created.
What did the USA demand that Japan join?
- The USA also demanded that Japan joins the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
- This strengthened Japan’s access to western trade but it also prevented trade with communist China
What was the San Francisco Peace Treaty and when did it occur?
- September 1951
- Recognition of the full sovereignty (right to rule themselves) of the Japanese people.
- Force Japan to renounce any claims to a wide range of neighbouring territories, including Korea and Taiwan.
How did it benefit the USA?
- Unrestricted use of military bases in Japan
- Administrative control of Owkinawa
- The right to use military force to intervene in any internal disorder in Japan
- The right to veto Japan offering military bases to other states.
How did Japanese rearmament eventually occur?
✩ The USA monitored Japanese rearmament between 1951-1954 and limited the size of their military.
✩ After 1954, Japan was allowed to have armed forces that were defensive only and limited to 140,000 men.
✩ The USA allowed Japan to increase the size of its military in order to protect them against the growing threat of Communist countries in the East
What was the NSC-68 and the DPS strategy?
✩ NSC-68 attempted to encourage the USA to develop military readiness/US security and to increase economic, political stability and military capability, reiterating the threat posed by the USSR.
✩ The Defensive Perimeter Strategy was a line of military defence ran along from Ryukyu islands to the Philippine islands.
✩ However, the DPS did not cover Korea, this was criticised when North Korea invaded South Korea.
Why was the DPS strategy important?
✩ The policy took the pessimistic view that the USA wouldn’t be able to influence events on the Asian mainland, due to the success of Mao in China - showed that the USA were really taking the communist threat in Asia seriously now.
When were the NSC-68 and DPS strategy introduced?
✩ April 7, 1950 for the NSC-68
✩ January 12, 1950 for the DPS strategy.
When did China fall to communism?
✩ October 1949
Why was this significant on the US and the Cold War?
✩ While the Americans sent money, training and equipment worth over $200m by 1947 to help with the over 3 million strong KMT army, communist victory seemed imminent a year later and the USA stopped spending aid in 1948.
✩ A fall to communism triggered a worry within the public that the USA was losing the ‘Cold War’ and that Truman was seen as ‘soft’ on Communism.
How did Chinese becoming communist change the USA’s Cold War policy?
✩ It shifted American focus to Asia, leading to the USA supporting and aiding Taiwan.
✩ It also helped trigger McCarthyism - an anti-communist crusade led by senator McCarthy against government foreign policy advisers that soon affected most sections of US society.
How did tensions further arise surrounding the newly formed communist country, China, and the Soviet Union?
And when?
✩ A Sino-Soviet treaty between the People’s Republic of China and the USSR was signed in 1950.
