5 - US containment in action in Asia

What happened August 1949?

USSR tests its first nuclear weapon

What happened September 1949?

Truman approves NSC-68 recommendations

What happened January 1950?

the idea of a strategic perimeter is suggested

What happened February 1950?

China forms a military alliance with the USSR

What happened April 1950?

NSC-68 is presented

What happened November 1950?

China joins North Korea in its war against South Korea

What happened September 1951?

the San Francisco Peace Treaty between USA and Japan is signed

What happened January 1953?

Eisenhower becomes US president

What did the USA introduce towards Japan as early as 1947?

its ‘reverse course’ policy towards Japan

• not focused on punishment or seizure of high levels of reparations

• wanted development of firm democratic institutions

• wanted development of practices towards an emphasis on economic construction as route by which political stability would be achieved

Japan’s recovery seen by USA as essential element of its power base in Eastern Asia - started to target communists + their sympathisers rather than suspected war criminals in Japan

What had US policy towards Japan been before 1947?

after Japan’s surrender at end of WWII, USA began sole occupation of country according to agreement between USA, UK, Soviet Union and China - lasted until 1952

1945 - US General Douglas MacArthur given decision-making powers to help rebuild Japan - included re-education, democratisation, economic reform, demilitarisation

Other than Japan’s post-war reconstruction, what was an undisguised strategy the USA had?

ensuring that Japan remained aligned to the USA + less vulnerable to communist influences in East + Southeast Asia

restoration of right-wing conservatives in Japan’s political, administrative + economic structure was not unintended outcome of the USA’s reconstruction programme

What shifted in the USA’s approach to Japan’s economic reconstruction by the start of 1949?

USA’s rather unstructured approach to Japan’s economic reconstruction was at an end - Washington gave MacArthur clear directions on the measures that had to be taken to ensure Japan’s economic stabilisation

ECONOMIC STABILISATION = CENTRAL ELEMENT OF USA’S PLANNING FOR POST-WAR JAPAN

What were the contributing factors to economic stabilisation in Japan?

• increased regulation of foreign exchange

• a balance budget

• stricter lending criteria

• wage controls

• more efficient taxation system

• price controls

• increased regulation of trade

programme based on control, but focus was on accelerated economic recovery in order to align Japan with USA + capitalist economic system

What steps did the USA take in pursuit of Japan’s economic reconstruction?

• former Detroit banker - Dodge - appointed at economic adviser to MacArthur + given responsibility of implementing plan

• worked with Japan’s Finance Minister to created a ‘super balanced budget’ - set target of surplus of nearly 157 million yen - however budget led, initially, to increased unemployment due to business closures

• USA demanded that Japan join the GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE (GATT) - strengthened Japan’s access to Western trade, also prevented trade with communist China from late 1950

What was GATT?

created with the United Nations at end of WWII

formed through a multinational agreement to manage international trade + attempted to minimise tariffs and duties to maximise international trade

What was the ‘super balanced budget’?

meant all government income + expenditure was closely monitored and conformed to strict guidelines

designed not merely to result in a balance between income and expenditure to minimise borrowing, but also to ensure a surplus which would act as an additional economic cushion

What was MacArthur’s official title?

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP)

When and why did Japan’s geopolitical significance to the USA enter a new phase?

FEBRUARY 1950 - communist China’s leader - Mao Zedong - formed a military alliance with the USSR

NOVEMBER 1950 - China joined North Korea in its war against the non-communist South Korea

this involvement led to the globalisation of containment + an increasing commitment on the USA’s part to see its role as a global policeman, despite existence of the United Nations

Japan now crucial component of USA’s aim to contain communism in region

When was the San Francisco Peace Treaty?

September 1951

Who was the San Francisco Peace Treaty between?

Japan + Allied Powers

was a WWII peace treaty with USA, Japan hoped it would restore its sovereignty + provide security for Japan in return for its acceptance of US troops on Japanese territory

What did the San Francisco Peace Treaty NOT do?

did NOT:

• place significant restrictions on Japan’s economy

• place significant restrictions on its future political model

• identify Japan’s responsibility for the war

• restrict Japan’s future rearmament

• impose reparation payments for Southeast Asian states occupied by Japan during war

REMARKABLE DUE TO BREVITY + LIMITATIONS

Who refused to sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty?

USSR

the People’s Republic of China

What DID the San Francisco Peace Treaty do?

• recognise the full sovereignty of the Japanese people

• force Japan to renounce any claims to wide range of neighbouring territories including: Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), Kurile Islands, Spratly Islands, Parcel Islands

In return for the San Francisco Peace Treaty, what did the USA require Japan to sign?

US-Japan Security Treaty - 1952 - a bilateral security agreement

Gave USA:

• unrestricted use of military bases in Japan

• administrative control of Okinawa (Japanese island, not part of mainland)

• the right to use military force to intervene in any internal disorder in Japan

• right to veto Japan offering military bases to other states

How was Japan’s rearmament brought about?

• MacArthur ordered Japan to establish 75,000 member National Police Reserve (NPR), trained by US military advisory team - seemingly purely defensive

• August 1952 - National Safety Agency (NSA) set up by Japanese government - over 117,000 troops both ground and maritime

• November 1952 - Eisenhower administration take office - Secretary of State Dulles waned enlarged Japanese ground force

• July 1954 - agreed that a 140,000 strong Self-Defence Force should be created, supported by $240 million in US funding + sale of US agricultural surplus to Japan

Why might Dulles have waned an enlarged Japanese ground force?

saw USSR as both strategically + ideologically expansionist

develop new strategy called ‘rollback’ - policy aimed at taking offensive against communism rather than simply containing it

Who did Eisenhower take over from in November 1953?

Harry S. Truman

What was US policy towards Japan up to 1954 driven by?

driven by the threat of communism in Korea - threat had diminished by then

After 1954, what was the USA’s attitude based on regarding rearmament?

managing it to avoid any consequences that might lead to instability - rearmament had been economic asset to Japan but also created internal instability due to pro- and anti-rearmament attitudes

JAPAN CLEARLY IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF USA’S COLD WAR CONTAINMENT STRATEGY

Why was Japan an important element of the USA’s Cold War containment strategy?

• An Economic Bulwark: Rebuilding Japan's economy prevented domestic poverty, which stopped the rise of a Japanese communist movement and kept its industrial power in the Western bloc.

• A "Model State": The US engineered Japan into a showcase of successful capitalism and democracy, acting as a direct ideological counterweight to communist China and the USSR in Asia.

• A Military Launchpad: Its strategic Pacific location provided permanent bases right off the Asian mainland, serving as the primary logistics and supply hub to contain conflicts like the Korean War.

• Anchor of the Defensive Perimeter: Japan formed the essential anchor of the US "Defensive Perimeter Strategy"—a literal line of military bases designed to block the spread of communism into the wider Pacific.

Why did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announce its allegiance to the USSR in June 1949?

• Mao not concerned about US intervention in civil war, which it seemed would inevitably end in a communist victory over Jiang Jieshi’s nationalist forces

• CONCERNED that USA would support an exiles Jiang Jieshi from Taiwan, undermining Mao’s aim of ensuring a united + intact communist China

Was US policy towards China + Asia linked to Europe?

NO - 1949 there was no simple extension of Cold War into Asia

What was the USA’s strategy towards + aim for China?

wanted to ensure the CCP didn’t fall under the influence of the USSR

JULY 1949 - strategy defined in the China White Paper, Acheson - Secretary of State - committed to supporting KMT in Taiwan (Jiang Jieshi’s forces), but secretly to not appear as imperialist menace to China - means to undermining the CCP rather than an end in itself

wanted USA to do nothing that might reinforce a Sino-Soviet alliance

CHINA WHITE PAPER - ATTEMPTED TO JUSTIFY WITHDRAWAL FROM DIRECT MILITARY SUPPORT FOR JIANG JIESHI

What was the Defensive Perimeter Strategy?

• military strategy announced by US Secretary of State Acheson based on belief that military defence of Japan was the responsibility of the USA, and focusing on the military security of the Pacific

• defensive line - a continuous chain of islands running along Asia mainland, with Japan as the main anchor - militarily defended these islands, crossing the line would lead to US retaliation

• OMITTED KOREA in the defensive area (despite this USA was committed to protecting South Korea from communist expansion)

When was the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship?

February 1950

When did the USA’s nuclear monopoly end?

September 1949 - USSR tested its own atomic bomb

What in addition to the end of the USA’s nuclear monopoly triggered a fundamental review of the USA’s strategic objectives and priorities?

Truman’s ‘loss of China’ - CCP led by Mao Zedong won the Chinese Civil war in October 1949, established the People’s Republic of China (PRC)

What does NSC-68 stand for?

the National Security Council Resolution 68

What was the NSC-68?

• secret US National Security Council report that completely rewrote American foreign policy following the loss of China and of the nuclear monopoly

• claimed Soviet Union was a global aggressive threat

• recommended massive increase in US military spending - deter Soviet aggression + act as source of encouragement to nations resisting Soviet political aggression + TO BE PREPARED IN CASE OF WAR

• emphasised need to get non-Soviet nations to align themselves with the USA

RECOGNISED CONTAINMENT WASN’T SUFFICIENT TO DEAL WITH THE COMMUNIST THREAT

What was the NSC-68 focused on?

the globalisation of the Cold War + there was powerful military emphasis on the application of containment

How did events in East Asia reinforce the year 1950 as a turning point in the Cold War?

• NSC-68. - turning point for USA’s approach to Asia, took a more aggressive stance + moved towards globalisation of Cold War

• left South Korea out of Defensive Perimeter Strategy - JUNE 1950 communist North Korea invaded non-communist South Korea

• Korean War forced USA to immediately put NSC-68 into action, shifting away from European political dispute into a global military conflict (although USA + USSR were not directly at war with one another)

Summary

1. Only limited US interest in Asia in 1945; no direct link to the priorities in Europe

1949 - 1950

2. Japan assumes much greater significance as a Cold War ally for the USA in East Asia

3. China becomes communist; China forms alliance with USSR; China supports North Korea in the war with the South

4. Major US policy reviews which shape USA’s developing Cold War strategy:

• develop Japan’s economic + political stability

• develop Japan’s military capability

• consolidate Japan as a US Cold War ally

• define US strategy in Asia + regard Asia in similar way to Europe

• recognition that containment isn’t sufficient to deal with communist threat - done primarily through the NSC-68