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Confrontation in the Pacific
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10555 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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2 / 1986 |
3,281 Words |
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John F. Copper
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Since the end of World War II, one of the constants in the interactions of the global powers has been that the United States, the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union have confronted each other is some fashion. For Asia this has been especially important: This confrontational relationship has been most active in the Pacific region and has constituted the most fundamental and strongest determinant of strategic/political relations in the area. Moreover, the configuration of this triangular confrontation has changed during this period several times. And it is still evolving. It will clearly affect Asia's future.
Why is Asia the center of power politics of a global style? Asia is the region of the world that has and continues to undergo the most rapid change and knows the greatest disparity in terms of culture, language, and religion. And with the Pacific region now occupying the center position in the world in terms of trade, economic growth, and technology, this is natural. It is the area of the world that matters most. It is also an area where the powers interact most directly.
To understand this better, we must look at the record.
Two Wars in Asia
The United States has been involved in only two expanded conflicts or wars since the end of World War II: in Korea and in Vietnam. In both cases, the United States confronted both the Soviet Union and China through proxies. The former was the first war of a truly limited nature that the United States had ever engaged in. The second ended in the first defeat for the United States in war and evoked a period of neo-isolationism weakening the American will in ways that have lasted to the present.
The People's Republic of China has been involved in broad conflicts or wars in Korea, with India (in 1962), with the Soviet Union (on their border in 1969), and in Vietnam (both during the "second" or United States war and in the "third" or Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979). In half of these wars the United States was the adversary; in other half, the Soviet Union was the opponent or enemy. In the case of the rather limited war against India, both the United States and the Soviet Union sided with India.
The Soviet Union has been involved in the Korean conflict, in two Vietnam wars (involving both the United States and China), against the People's Republic of China directly on their border, and in Afghanistan. The two direct conflicts or wars (the later two) involved fighting both China and the United States.
It should thus be axiomatic, judging from their involvements in conflagrations or wars, and each being involved with the other two, that, the United States, China, and the Soviet Union have come to regard the others as strategically important - especially in Asia. In short, their strategic plans are formulated based upon the actions and the perceptions of the other two. Scholars and other observers have called this is a "triangular" relationship.
Considering for the moment the basic triangular relationship it is clear that the situation changed drastically - perhaps permanently - over just 15 years ago. In 1969 there was a significant altering of the United States-China-Soviet
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