Chapter 22 Asia and the Pacific

What themes are reflected in this Propaganda poster?

 The end of World War II brought dramatic changes to Asia; Japan was stripped of the lands it had conquered.  Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands were forced to withdraw from their Asian colonies, and new nations arose.  Communists won control in China and North Korea, and the Cold War affected the entire region.  Out of turmoil, vigorous industrial powers have emerged.

Japan  For example, Japan had a major transformation into a global economic giant.  They went from defeat to becoming a major world economic power and this has been one of the most important changes of the post-World War II era.

 Why? Japan became entirely a U.S. enterprise, headed by General Douglas MacArthur.  He was determined not to plant the seeds of future war by imposing an unjust and unworkable system on the Japanese.  MacArthur’s reform policies made Japan a remarkable place.

 Japan adopted a new constitution- MacArthur Constitution. It stripped imperial family of its political power and gave it to the Japanese citizens.  The constitution also established a cabinet base on the British model. Both houses of the Diet, or legislation, were made elective, and citizens over the age 20 could vote.

 A bill of rights was added guaranteeing basic freedoms.  In addition, the U.S. agreed to protect Japan militarily. This arrangement enabled Japan to concentrate more of its resources on consumer goods than on military equipment.

Economically and Politically  Japan became decentralized (reorganized and distributed land fairly).  Also, Japan’s economic prosperity has allowed them to export more products than import leaving their country with no deficits but instead surpluses.  With the most advanced economy in East Asia, Japan has increased its influence in the region.

China  As for China, after WWII, the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists led by Mao Zedong fought a bitter civil war in China.  By 1949, Mao’s Communist forces had defeated the Nationalists.  That year, the Communists proclaimed the People’s Republic of China, with Beijing as the capital.

 Mao’s revolution was one of the major upheavals of the century. It succeeded in part because the Communists’ self- proclaimed patriotism and sense of duty appealed to many Chinese citizens disgusted with foreign controls and corruption of Chiang’s officials.

 Above all, Mao won over China’s peasants with his promises of land reform and an end to oppression by landlords.  However, the “Great Leap Forward Plan,” an economic plan which put land into larger government controlled units and stressed human labor over technology, proved to be a disaster and caused massive suffering – more than 20 million people died of starvation.

 Food shortages, mismanagement, and peasant resistance to communes brought the program to a halt.  After Mao’s death in 1976, China entered the Deng Era.  Deng backed a plan called the Four Modernizations that stressed the need for improvements in agriculture, industry, science, and defense.

 Although the government still controlled major industries, factory managers were encouraged to make plants more efficient.  In addition, economic reforms allowed some privately owned small businesses and private property.  Deng also welcomed foreign businesses and technology to China.

 While Deng encouraged some free enterprise, he refused to grant political freedoms.  By the late 1980s, students and intellectuals in Beijing, Shanghai, and other Chinese cities had organized movements to demand a more open political system.

 In fact, they rallied for democracy and other reforms in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.  Determined to maintain control, the government sent in troops and tanks to put down the rally. Thousands of demonstrators were killed or wounded.  The Tiananmen Square massacre damaged China’s prestige abroad.  The United States and other democratic nations condemned Deng’s use of force and investors backed off from doing business with the Chinese.

South Asia  In South Asia, nationalist movements created four new nations: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and later, Bangladesh.  However, in spite of economic progress, ethnic and religious rivalries hampered unity within and among these countries.

Korea and Vietnam  Korea and Vietnam, both divided into Communist and non-Communist parts, and both became cold war hot spots.  During the Korean War, fought from 1950 to 1953, American – led United Nations forces fought back a Communist advance, but the conflict ended in a stalemate, with Korea returning to its divided status: communist North and democratic South.

 In Vietnam, however, Communist forces defeated American and anti-communist Vietnamese forces (in 1975)and united the entire country under Communist rule.  The Vietnam conflict lasted from 1950s to the mid-1970s, with direct American military involvement beginning in the mid- 1960s.

 Since the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, economic prosperity has come to the nations along Asia’s Pacific Rim, stretching from South Korea through Japan and Taiwan to Southeast Asia.  Australia, New Zealand, and other South Pacific nations are increasingly involved in trade with their Asian neighbors.

Vlas:  Korean War: bwFxGRU Vietnam: mk-akk mk-akk Which war was needed?(justified?) Either? Neither? What were reasons for the wars?