US Containment in action in Asia

What happened in August 1949 for the USSR?

USSR tests its first nuclear weapon

What happened in September 1949 for the USA?

Truman approves NSC-68 recommendations

What happened in January 1950 as a US policy?

idea of a strategic perimeter is suggested

What happened in February 1950 with USSR relations?

China forms a military alliance with the USSR

What happened in April 1950 with USA?

NSC-68 is presented

What happened in November 1950 regarding the development of the cold war?

China joins North Korea in its war against South Korea

What treaty is signed in September 1951?

The San Francisco Peace Treaty between the USA and Japan is signed

What political development occurs in the USA in January 1953?

Eisenhower becomes President

Before 1947, what was US policy towards Japan?

after Japan surrendered unconditionally at the end of WW2 - USA began sole occupation of the country (agreement between USA, UK and Soviet Union, until 1952)

• Sept 1945 - US General Douglas MacArthur was given decision-making powers to help rebuild Japan

• rebuilding: re-education, democratisation, economic reform, and demilitarisation

In 1947 what policy did the USA introduce towards Japan?

‘reverse course’

What did the ‘reverse course’ mean for the USA’s policy towards Japan?

wanted the reconstruction of post-war Japan

• development of firm democratic institutions and practices towards an emphasis on economic reconstruction as the route which would allow political stability to be achieved

How did the reconstruction of post-war Japan benefit the USA?

Japan’s recovery was seen by the USA as an essential element of its power base in Eastern Asia

What was the USA’s undisguised strategy from the reconstruction of post-war Japan?

wanted to ensure that Japan remained aligned to the USA and less vulnerable to communist influences in the East and Southeast Asia

What was SCAP?

The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers - led by General Douglas MacArthur

• U.S. led occupation authority that ruled Japan from 1945 to 1952

What needed to be achieved for the reconstruction of post-war Japan?

• Increased regulation of trade

• price controls

• increased regulation of foreign exchange

• balanced budget

• stricter lending criteria

• wage control

• a more efficient taxation

What was Joseph Dodge’s relation to SCAP?

economic adviser

• ‘super balanced budget’ - set a target of a surplus of nearly 157 million yen (just over $4 million)

• however, budget led (initially) to increased unemployment due to business closures

What was the super balanced budget produced by Dodge?

used to establish some form of lasting economic recovery to strengthen Japan against the consequences of slow or very gradual recovery

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

What did Japan want to become through its reconstruction?

active member of world institutions - particularly those linked to the West

What did the USA demand for Japan to join in 1955?

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

How did joining GATT benefit Japan?

strengthened Japan’s access to Western trade - also prevented trade with communist China from late 1950

What was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade?

formed through multinational agreement to manage international trade and attempt to minimise tariffs and duties in order to maximise international trade

• created with the United Nations at the end of the Second World War

Why did Japan’s geographical significance to the USA enter a new phase in February 1950?

Communist China leader, Mao Zedong, formed a military alliance with the USSR

• November - China joined North Korea in its war against the non-communist South Korea

Why was China’s involvement in North Korea significant to US policy?

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

Who was Mao Zedong?

founding member of the Chinese Communist Party

• established the People’s Republic of China in October 1949

• Marxist-Leninist & hard-line communist with an uncompromising attitude towards the capitalist West

• ensured that China played a key role in Cold War relations for the next three decades

Who was Shigeru Yoshida?

Japan’s prime minister

• focused on Japan’s economic recovery and his acceptance of US protection of Japan - Yoshida Doctrine

• became highly significant influence of Japan’s Cold War policies in the long-term

When was the San Francisco Peace Treaty passed?

September 1951

Who was involved in the San Francisco Peace Treaty?

Japan and its allied powers

What is the San Francisco Peace Treaty known for?

remarked by its brevity and its limitations

What did the San Francisco Peace Treaty NOT do?

• 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 reparations payments for those Southeast Asian states occupied by Japan during the war

Who refused to sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty?

of the allied powers - only the USSR refused to sign this agreement

• people’s republic of China (since February 1950) did not sign the treaty

What did the San Francisco Peace Treaty achieve?

• recognised the full sovereignty of the Japanese people

• force Japan to renounce any claims to a wide range of neighbouring territories - Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), the Kurile Islands, the Spratly Islands, and the Paracel Islands

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

bilateral security agreement: US-Japan security agreement (1951)

When was the Bilateral Security Agreement signed between the USA and Japan?

1951

What was agreed in the Bilateral Security Agreement between the USA and Japan?

• unrestricted use of military bases in Japan

• administrative control of Okinawan (Japanese island separate from the four main islands that made up mainland Japan)

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

• the right to veto Japan offering military bases to other states

What is a Bilateral?

an action or agreement that involves only two states; they would be acting on their own interests and would not consult on any diplomatic level with other interested states

What had US policy up to 1954 Japan been driven by?

threat of communism in Korea

Was was Japan’s rearmament successful?

had been an economic asset to Japan - created some internal instability due to pro and anti-rearmament attitudes

By 1955, what was the USA’s attitude towards Japan based on?

managing rearmament in order to avoid any consequences that might lead to instability

• Japan was clearly an important element of the USA’s Cold War containment strategy

Who was Jiang Jeishi?

China’s nationalist, anti-communist leader

• after defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949 - exiled to be come leader of the Republic of China based on the Island of Japan

In June 1949, what did the Chinese Communist government announce?

allegiance to the USA

When was the USA’s strategy towards China defined?

China White Paper - July 1949

Who defined what the USA’s strategy towards China should look like?

Dean G. Acheson

• George Marshall’s successor as Secretary of State

What did Acheson believe the USA should do regarding China in 1949?

support the KMT in Tawian secretly so that the USA did not appear to be an ‘imperialist menace to China’

• do nothing that would reinforce a Sino-Soviet Alliance

• supporting nationalists in Taiwan was a means to an end - undermining the CCP rather than an end in itself

What was the purpose of Acheson’s China White Paper in 1949?

USA attempted to justify its withdrawal from direct military support for Jiang Jieshi

Who came up with the Defensive Perimeter Strategy in 1950?

Dean G. Acheson

When was the idea of the Defensive Perimeter Strategy defined?

January 1950

• in advance of Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship

Why was the Defensive Perimeter Strategy created?

Acheson believed defence of Japan was the responsibility of the USA

• would be achieved a ‘defesnive perimeter’

What was the Defensive Perimeter Strategy in 1950?

USA foreign policy initiated by Secretary of State Dean Acheson that defined a Pacific "line in the sand" to contain communism

Why was Acheson’s Defensive Perimeter Strategy criticised?

omitting Korea in the defensive cordon

• despite this, USA was committed to protecting South Korea from communist expansion - became very evident in June 1950

Why did the USA’s nuclear monopoly end in 1949?

USSR tested its own atomic bomb

What did Truman’s loss of China trigger?

fundamental review of the USA’s strategic objectives and priorities

• NSC-68

What is the full name of NSC-68?

National Security Council Resolution 68

What was NSC-68?

a top-secret 1950 policy paper that redefined U.S. Cold War strategy

• urgency on building the USA’s political, economic and military power

• focused on the globalisation of the Cold War; military emphasis on the application of containment

When was NSC-68 produced?

1950

When did communist North Korea invade the non-communist South Korea?

June 1950