United Nations and The Cold War Asia: Japan, China & Indo-China
Background
Prior to World War 2 a peacekeeping organisation had existed
• The League of Nations
• Based in Geneva
• Created at the end of The Great War
• Charged with keeping the peace in the post-war world
• Provided with a full administration appropriate for the task
• Relatively successful, under certain circumstances
League of Nations
Strengths:
• Unanimous decisions
• One country, one vote
• The Council, major nations + elected group to make decisions
• Worked for the good of all – Mandates, Refugees, etc.
Weaknesses:
• Limited membership
• Absence of USA
• Lack of military force
• Unanimous decisions difficult to achieve
• Impact of the World Depression
• Link to Treaties at end of the Great War
Problems of League
• Absence of USA, decisions unenforceable
• Germany, Japan, Italy, USSR; limited membership
• Lack of armed force to enforce decisions
• Weakness: Corfu (1923), Vilna (1920), Manchuria (1931), Abyssinia (1935)
• Successes overwhelmed by weaknesses
Failure of League
• Aggression of Japan, Germany, USSR, Italy – unchecked
• Individual nations more concerned about their needs than world security
• Treaty of Versailles ignored
o Reparations abandoned – 1933
o Military terms abandoned – 1935
o Territorial terms ignored post-1935
• Failed to stop outbreak of war in 1939
Impact of failure
• Heavy military casualties between 1931 and 1945
• Civilian deaths of approx. 60 million
• Destruction of countries – Germany, Japan, USSR, …
• Economic collapse of the ‘Old World’
• A new fear – Nuclear Destruction, Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A new League
• First considered by Roosevelt and Churchill in 1941 ~ Atlantic Treaty
• First agreed, Tehran, 1943
• Created – San Francisco Conference, April 1946
• All nations to be members
• Best of League to be kept – the various commissions to be drawn into the United Nations
• Weaknesses of the League to be addressed:
Power to create own armed forces
Permanent sitting of United Nations
The United Nations Organisations
Created, 1945, to:
• stop future war
• discuss possible actions in the event of conflict
• seek ways to improve the world
• improve/promote international understanding
Key principles:
• Collective Security
• Regional – support for the development within specific regions/areas
• Association – allowed for the development of the UN by the admission of new members
•
Major institution
The Security Council:
• Charge with making the key decisions within the United Nations
• 5 permanent members: USA, USSR, United Kingdom, China (Nationalist), France
• Key players in the Security Council = USA and USSR
• Security Council made decisions about committing Military Aid in time of Crisis
• All Security Council had to agree on action
• Power of veto could be exercised by any permanent member
Possible issues for the UN
• How could the Cold War affect the work and development of the United Nations?
The Cold War Asia: Japan, China & Indo-China
Japan
Sit. Rep. – August / September 1945
• August ~
• 01 – USSR attacks Japanese territories
• 06 and 09 - Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only cities to be devastated by Atomic bombs
• 08 – Japan announced unconditional surrender
• September ~
• 02 – formal surrender of Japan
• Japanese islands occupied by US forces, beginning 7 years of occupation
Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan
• Focus – the rebuilding of Japan’s economy
• Process, 3 stages:
• Punish war criminals, 1945-’7 ~ parallel with Europe
• Establish a stable democracy, 1947-’52 ~ to stop Japan from threatening another war
• Re-build the Japanese economy, 1947-’52 ~ trade with the USA, linked to stabilising the country as a whole
• US Leadership – General Douglas MacArthur
• Japan – Emperor Hirohito – no longer a God, figurehead of the new state ~ focus for reconciliation, political and economic recovery
Why did the USA reconstruct Japan
• The ongoing troubles in China – Civil War between Nationalists, backed by the USA and the Communists backed by USSR
• The concepts of ‘containment’ and later ‘Domino Theory’ meant that the US believed Japan was susceptible to communist influences in its weakened state ~ something to be avoided
• The desire to stabilise the region
• To create a trading partner for the USA in the region
• The US was able to permanently station troops and weapons on the Japanese mainland to prevent further communist expansion in the Pacific.
• ‘Fall’ of China to communism, 1949, meant the USA needed a strong bulwark in the Pacific against the expansion of communist nations
Treaty of San Francisco
September 1951
• Recognised Japanese independence
• Ended US occupation
• Made Japan an ally of the USA
• Allowed the creation of a ‘self-defence force’ for Japan
• Offered Japan support from the US ~ financial and through sale of US surplus agricultural products
Focus – making Japan a balance against the apparent spread of communism in the region – PRC, North Korea and at the height of the Korean War
The Chinese civil war
• A Civil War had raged in China since 1920s – Jiang Jieshi / Chiang Kai-Shek’s KMT/Kuomintang (Nationalists) verses Mao Zedong’s CCP/Chinese Communist Party (Communists)
• In WW2 both Jiang and Mao received US support in the struggle against Japan
• Both the USA & USSR supported Jiang’s/Chiang’s nationalists, the former to prevent the spread of communism & the latter to gain access to resources in Manchuria
• The US in particular supplied Chiang’s forces with military and financial aid amounting to $2,000,000,000
• Mao feared US intervention in the Civil War
The fall of China
• However corruption was rife and vast amounts of the US aid was increasingly placed in the hands of Mao’s supporters.
• By May 1947 the Communists held the upper hand. Their forces had continued to grow and by June numbered over 1,500,000.
• August 1949 with communist victory imminent the US withdrew its support for Chiang’s forces.
• Faced with continued losses Chiang flees with his remaining men to the Island of Formosa (Taiwan).
• October 1st 1949 Mao proclaims the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Indochina after second world war
• During the Second World War Indochina was occupied by Japanese forces.
• Importantly the French Vichy government continued to rule the region under Japanese supervision.
• When the Japanese forces surrendered in August 1945 a general uprising was undertaken by the communist Viet Minh under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.