United Nations and The Cold War Asia: Japan, China & Indo-China

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Klasse 11

Autor Larissa345

Veröffentlicht am 17.10.2018

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United Nations cold war japan china asia

Zusammenfassung

This presentation is about the United nations and the cold war in Asia, Japan, China and Indo China. What was the background of the United Nations and what is the league of nations? Topics are problems and issues or failure of the League. Also the Occupation and reconstruction of Japan and the reason why the USA reconstruct Japan.

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.