Historical Overview 2.

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Tuesday, November 08, 2011 11:42 PM

DQs:

1. What are the main trends in the historical overview of Northeast/East Asia? 2. How did the Cold War impact Northeast Asia? Did Northeast Asia have a choice in being involved in the Cold War? 3. Which variable best explains the historical process-POWER, IDENTITY or NORMS? 4. Which outlook do you think best explains the post-Cold War period?

2.1 KIM (2008) THE EVOLVING ASIAN SYSTEM: THREE TRANSFORMATIONS

Back to the Future Scenarios for Asia
REALIST Back to the future of Europe's past Back to the future of Asia's past Relative power gains at the unit level destabilizing political dynamics associated with power transitions Asia is primed for Europe-like great-power rivalry and war-prone past Huntington: Clash of civilizations theory- Asia qua Asia exceptionalism to the rise of China Asian countries will bandwagon with China rather than balance against it 2 centuries of Sinocentrism in varying degrees of subordination to, cooperation with or autonomy from China Asia's future= China as regional hegemon Kang: hierarchic, more peaceful and more stable Asian international relations region's historical acceptance of a hierarchical world order with China as core Asia's future: Sinocentric hierarchical past to guide and ensure its future stability

SINOCENTRIC

TRANSFORMATIONS
1.

CHINESE TRIBUTE SYSTEM

(from early 19th c) declined with the Opium War and the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895) China reacts to its image of reality and is tenacious in resisting change Image of the world order is colored by assumptions, beliefs, sentiments and symbols of their self -image China's foreign policy and diplomatic practice conform to this idealized self -image brought about by: a. Absence of any rival civilization b. Natural geographic barriers c. Absence of nationalistic dynamic in the enactment of identity = Chinese identity is more civilizational than national TRIBUTE SYSTEM: i. sum total of complex institutional expressions of the hierarchical Chinese world order ii. Lasted for centuries because of: its ability to foster mutually complementary and mutually acceptable interests iii. China became more flexible and pragmatic in accepting others as equals iv. Useful for political legitimacy at home Opium War= China's defeat against the West=> gunboat diplomacy Sino-Western conflicts - Arrow War + allied military expedition to Peking a. Tianjin Treaties b. Peking Conventions c. Domestic disorder: Taiping Rebellion d. External: threat posed by the West Self-Strengthening Movement failed because responding to Western encroachment oppose China's self -preservation of internal order China needed a system transformation both in institutions and in ideology Sino-Japanese War= China's defeat Unequal treaty system Sino-Western confrontation= a system-to-system conflict between two diametrically opposed images of world order Second Treaty Settlement subordinated the Chinese world order to a Eurocentric system

2. JAPANESE IMPERIAL SYSTEM (from 1895 to end of WWII) Critical geopolitical transformations a. Rise of the West = colonial rule b. China lost its status as the dominant regional power due to the progressive decay of the empire, discredited tribute system, disintegration of the state => China as semi-sovereign and a hypocolony c. Rising Japan replaced China as dominant regional power=> Greater East Asian Co -Prosperity Sphere to counter Western imperialism Opium War = most significant system-transforming point in Asian international relations = Japan's contempt of China

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Opium War = most significant system-transforming point in Asian international relations = Japan's contempt of China US gunboat diplomacy + Treaty of Kanagawa + US-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce ended Japan's 200 year policy of seclusion Meiji Restoration ended the feudal Tokuga shogunate Domestic reform and external expansionist policy: If you can't beat them, join them and beat them by their own rules Equal status first before imperialism and domination Japan and China: first East Asian treaty based on Western international law Treaty of Kanghwa declared Korea as an autonomous state Tonghak rebellion- catalyst for the Sino-Japanese War Sino-Japanese War I a. China's loss of Korea as the last tributary state b. transfer of Taiwan, Pescadores Islands, Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria to Japan c. Survival of the fittest competition among Western power for spheres of influence in Asia Russo-Japanese War= benchmark for Japan's successful enactment of Japanese identity as a great power Treaty of Portsmouth= gave Japan a free hand in Korea as Japan's colony Taft-Katsura Agreement= Washington accepted Tokyo's hegemony over Korea + Tokyo's acceptance of American hegemony over the Philippines + support for Anglo-Japanese alliance Sino-Japanese War II (WWII)= Japan's consolidation of Manchuria led to a full -scale war with China Tripartite Pact (Axis alliance) = Japan, Germany and Italy Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere: a. creation of a self-sufficient bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers b. Liberating Asia from Western imperialism = Justification of Japanese military expansion c. Escape from Asia: abandoning Sinocentric Asia + Japancentric world order Japan as imperial power = destroyed myth of European superiority and paved the way for national independence movements in the region Legacies of Japanese empire: decolonization of Southeast Asia + transformation of political units from kingdoms and empires into modern nation-states COLD WAR (1947-1989) Cold War in Asia developed in tandem with national liberation movements, revolutions, civil wars and two major international wars Asian Cold War=> hot war in Korea and Vietnam Four major Cold War fault lines= divided Germany, divided Korea, divided China and divided Vietnam End of 1945=de facto Cold War in Asia => Truman Doctrine East Asia's trajectory: superpower conflicts and rivalry Features of the Cold War system: Bipolar world order Intense ideological conflict Fear of nuclear war Korean War highlighted high military budgets, proliferation of bilateral defense treaties, SEATO, US strategic culture of bipolarity and communist threat PRC rescued Kim Il Sung's regime Confirmed that China could stand up against the world's anti -socialists superpower for the integrity of its new national identity as a revolutionary socialist state Japan became an indispensable ally in US Asian strategy (San Francisco Peace Treaty) enabling Japan to deflect scrutiny of i ts domestic politics Vietnam War Most disastrous chapter in postwar American foreign policy Beginning of the relative decline of US influence Sino-Soviet split = unavoidable consequence of growing equality in alliance China abandoned the dual-adversary policy as it sought to improve US-Chinese relations to offset escalating Soviet threat Cold War in Asia ended in installments Rise and fall of the strategic triangle (tripolarity) => rise and decline of Soviet power Sino-American rapprochement -> belated entry of China into the UN and the UN Security Council The Cold War established and maintained American hegemony in Asia Law of imperial overextension (overstretch?) = today's dividends tomorrow's debts with compound interest Sino-Soviet Summit 1989 => end of the Cold War in Asia

3.

POST-COLD WAR ASIAN SYSTEM

Eurocentric and Sinocentric back to the future models are not desirable nor feasible for the future of Asian IR Discontinuity from the three past systems Globalization=> increased level and intensity of interaction and interdependence Regional and global multilateral institutions became integral parts of complex, increasingly interdependent regional and global systems Asia has not had a single inter-state war in the post-Cold War era 1. Colonization and decolonization= impact on sovereign aspirations of newly independent Asian states Asian states' support for state sovereignty, state equality, non-interference

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 Asian states' support for state sovereignty, state equality, non-interference 2. China shows no interest to reproduce a Sinocentric world order Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity Mutual non-aggression Mutual non-interference of internal affairs Equality and mutual benefit Peaceful coexistence 3. Globalization transformed the context and conditions of Asian regional geo-politics and geoeconomics Influenced the dynamics and meaning of power A country's integration into the global economy strengthens and constrains state power History still matters Post-Cold War national identity construction and enactment Third Wave of democratization created more political space

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