A Geographic Profile of South & East Asia

Colonization of South and East Asia

  • Effects of European Colonization:
    • Portugal and Spain were the first to exert economic and political control over South and Southeast Asia.
    • Colonies:
      • British: India, Burma, Ceylon, Malaya, Borneo
      • Dutch: East Indies (Indonesia)
      • French: Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)
      • Portuguese: Goa and Diu in India, Macau and Timor
    • Western domination of Asia ended in the 20th century; after World War II, colonial possessions gained independence.
    • Hong Kong returned to China by Britain in 1997.
    • Macau returned to China by Portugal in 1999.

Economic Geography of South and East Asia

  • The economies of China and India are rapidly growing.
  • Significant portions of the population in these regions remain in poverty.
  • There is a widening gap between the rich and the poor.
  • Asian Tigers: Strong, industrialized, export-oriented economies including:
    • South Korea
    • Taiwan
    • Hong Kong
    • Singapore
  • New Asian Tigers in Southeast Asia:
    • Thailand
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • The Philippines
    • Vietnam
  • Japan is a leader in Asia for value-added manufacturing.

China's Surging Economy

  • China has the world's second-largest economy by GDP and the largest by purchasing power parity.
  • Until 2015, it was the fastest-growing major economy, averaging 6% growth over 30 years.
  • The public sector has a larger share in China's national economy compared to the private sector.
  • China has the world's largest total banking sector assets, with 39.9 trillion and 26.54 trillion in total deposits.

The Green Revolution and Biotechnology in Agriculture

  • Green Revolution: A set of research and technology transfer initiatives from 1950 to the late 1960s.
    • Aimed to increase agricultural production worldwide, especially in the developing world.
    • Sought to stave off hunger, particularly in India, and generate export income.
  • Biotechnology:
    • Biovalley aimed to create palm oil trees genetically modified to produce raw materials for medical devices.
  • Problems:
    • Financial obstacles
    • Economic dislocations
    • Large infusions of agricultural chemicals
    • Reduction of genetic variability of crops

Geopolitical Issues: Nationalism and Nuclear Weapons

  • Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty:
    • A multilateral treaty banning all nuclear explosions.
    • Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 10, 1996, but not in force.
    • Eight specific states have not ratified the treaty: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, United States.
    • In 1998, India conducted 3 underground nuclear tests in the Thar Desert.
    • Pakistan followed with six nuclear tests.
    • Fear of mutually assured destruction.

US-Pakistan Relations Since 9/11

  • The Pakistani president dropped support for the Taliban and allowed the US to use the country to prepare for the assault on the Taliban and al-Qa’ida in Afghanistan.
  • The US forgave much of Pakistan’s debt and lifted sanctions against Pakistan.
  • The US also lifted its post-nuclear test sanctions against India.
  • Semiautonomous federally administered tribal areas:
    • Pashtuns are sympathetic to the causes of their Taliban ethnic kin and their al-Qa’ida spiritual kin.
    • Opposition to American interests.

North and South Korea

  • Korean Peninsula:

    • Historically, its location has been geopolitically sensitive, adjoining China, facing Japan across the Korea Strait, bordering Russia for a short distance.
    • China, Russia, and Japan have frequently been at odds, impacting the Koreans throughout history.

  • At the end of WWII, the Soviet Union entered the Pacific war as an ally of the U.S. against Japan.

    • Both sides planned to accept Japan’s surrender on the Korean peninsula.
    • A line was arbitrarily drawn at the 38th parallel, becoming an unintended permanent boundary.
    • The Soviet Union and the U.S. set up governments friendly to themselves on either side.
    • Korean War (1950-1953):
      • An armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, by the Chinese, the North Koreans, and the United Nations command (achieved cease fire).
      • The border between Koreas, the demilitarized zone (DMZ), follows the armistice line.

What Does North Korea Want?

  • A Reunited Korea?
  • A crisis flared in 1994 when North Korea refused to permit full inspection of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
    • Would remove other countries’ justifications for building up their defenses.
    • Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI):
      • Antimissile defensive shield over the US.
  • North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program:
    • North Korea included in George W. Bush’s ‘axis of evil’.
    • The only leverage North Korea has had to coax desperately needed supplies from abroad.

Southeast Asia

  • Southeast Asia:
    • Myanmar (formerly Burma)
    • Thailand
    • Laos
    • Cambodia
    • Vietnam
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
    • Indonesia
    • Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor)
    • Brunei
    • The Philippines

Issues Facing SE Asia’s Physical Geography

  • Deforestation:
    • Aggressive export of the region’s tropical hardwoods.
    • Clearing of land for use as palm oil plantations.
    • Many forests and peat bogs are cleared by burning, emitting CO_2.
      • Indonesia is now the world’s 5th largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions.
    • Many plants and animals in these forests are endemic species.
  • The Great Tsunami of 2004:
    • On December 26, 2004, a huge 9.3 magnitude earthquake off the northwestern coast of Sumatra resulted in some of the deadliest tsunamis in recorded history.
    • Total dead exceeded 200,000.
      • The greatest number of deaths (over 130,000) occurred in Indonesia.
    • As many as 2 million people were made homeless by this disaster.
    • Installation of an early warning system in the Indian Ocean region became a priority and was completed in 2006.

South Asia: India

  • India’s Population Surge Since Independence:
    • Predicted to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2040.
    • Half of its population is younger than 25.
    • 40% of its population is in poverty.
  • Agricultural output has increased in South Asia since independence.
    • ‘Ration shops’ sell subsidized food staples to the country’s poorest.
    • Agricultural success due mainly to:
      • Increased use of artificial fertilizers
      • Introduction of new high-yield varieties of wheat and rice (Green Revolution)
      • More labor from the growing rural population
      • Spread of education
      • Development of government extension institutions
    • 60% of India’s farmland is still rain-fed.

South Asia: Bangladesh and Maldives

  • Bangladesh:
    • Formerly known as East Pakistan.
    • Small but heavily populated nation.
    • Subject to catastrophic flooding:
      • Frequent hurricanes
      • Increased runoff from the Himalayas due to deforestation
      • Concerns about climate change and rising sea levels
  • The Maldives:
    • Tropical paradise made up of roughly 1,100 islands.
    • More than 60% of earnings from tourism.
    • 80% of its limited land area is less than 3 feet above sea level.
    • Could become completely submerged as a result of climate change.

Southeast Asia: Myanmar

  • Myanmar (formerly Burma):
    • Constant civil war since independence from the British Commonwealth in 1948.
    • One of the world’s most repressive places to live:
      • Access to the Internet prohibited until 1999 and still strictly regulated.
      • Foreign journalists banned.
      • Citizens may not allow foreigners into their homes.
      • Illegal to gather outside in groups of more than five.
    • Struck by a category 4 hurricane on May 2, 2008:
      • More than 135,000 deaths, 2.5 million homes lost; foreign aid banned, journalists barred entry, so real impacts of tragedy may never be known.

Indonesia

  • Indonesia’s credo is “One country. One people. One language.”
  • The constitution officially recognizes four faiths:
    • Islam
    • Christianity
    • Hinduism
    • Buddhism
  • The presence of some 300 different ethnic groups has made it difficult to attain peace, order, and unity.
    • Malay is the official language, but 200+ languages/dialects are in use.
    • The largest ethnic group is Javanese, making up 41% of the population.
      • Various groups in outer islands have resented Javanese dominance.
      • After promises of liberal autonomy, the Indonesian government shifted to using an iron fist against any province aspiring to follow East Timor.
  • Indonesia is the world's most expansive archipelagic state.
  • Indonesia's population is over 200 million people (the world's fourth largest in population) live separated by water and clustered on a variety of islands of various size.
  • Five large islands dominate the country's territory.
  • Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands, about 6,000 of which are inhabited.
  • The five largest islands are Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo), New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea), and Sulawesi.

Indonesia - Climate

  • Lying along the equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate, with two distinct monsoonal wet and dry seasons.
  • Average annual rainfall in the lowlands varies from 1,780–3,175 millimeters (70–125 in), and up to 6,100 millimeters (240 in) in mountainous regions.
  • Mountainous areas—particularly in the west coast of Sumatra, West Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua—receive the highest rainfall. Humidity is generally high, averaging about 80%.
  • Temperatures vary little throughout the year; the average daily temperature range of Jakarta is 26–30 °C.

Indonesia - Biodiversity

  • Indonesia is identified as one of the megadiverse countries.
  • Indonesia's size, tropical climate, and archipelagic geography support the world's second-highest level of biodiversity (after Brazil), and its flora and fauna is a mixture of Asian and Australasian species.
  • Indonesia is second only to Australia in its degree of endemism, with 26% of its 1,531 species of bird and 39% of its 515 species of mammal being endemic.

Taiwan

  • Island of 14,000 square miles and 23 million people, separated from South China by the 100-mile wide Taiwan Strait.
  • Long struggle between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan’s Republic of China as to who has sovereignty over the other.
    • In 1949, the Chinese National Government fled to Taiwan with remnants of its armed forces and many civilian followers.
    • The government reestablished itself with a capital at Taipei.
  • United inexpensive Taiwanese labor with foreign capital to build one of Asia’s first urban-industrial countries.
    • Strong export-oriented economy driven by electronics and machinery.
    • The average Taiwanese citizen is 4x wealthier than the average mainland Chinese citizen.
    • A major hurdle for stronger growth is a lack of native energy resources.
  • One China Policy:
    • The U.S. backed the Nationalist claim until the 1970s when it developed closer relations with the People’s Republic.
    • The U.S. supported the revocation of Taiwan’s UN seat in 1971.
    • In 1979, the U.S. withdrew its official recognition of Taiwan, recognizing China’s claim of sovereignty.

Japan

  • The Japanese “Miracle”:
    • Japan became an economic superpower after its defeat in World War II.
    • Possible reasons for this include:
      • Japan was never colonized by Western powers.
      • An intense spirit of achievement and enterprise among the Japanese.
      • Japan’s geography as a resource-poor island nation fostered an attitude of working hard to overcome constraints placed on them by nature.
      • A strong educational system emphasizes technical training.
      • Benevolent management strategies include the inclusion of employees in decision-making and lifetime employment guarantees for some workers.
      • A high level of investment in new and efficient industrial plants.
      • A conservative political culture is strongly business-oriented.
    • Despite all of these favorable factors, the Japanese miracle did not last.
      • After peaking in the mid-1980s, Japan’s bubble economy burst.

Japan’s Population

  • Very homogeneous, with 99.5% ethnic Japanese.
  • One of the world’s lowest birth rates, at 7 per 1,000 annually.
  • Japan’s shrinking population will cause an increase in taxes and family obligations to meet the needs of older citizens.