The United States and the Struggle for Southeast Asia, 1945-1975

After the end of the Cold War, it seemed as if Southeast Asia would remain a geopolitically stable region within the American imperious for the foreseeable future. In the last two decades, however, the re-emergence of China as a major great power has called into question the geopolitical future of the region and raised the specter of renewed great power competition. As this book shows, the United States and China are engaged in a broad-gauged and global competition for power. While this competition ranges across the entire world, it is centered in Asia, and here this text focuses on the ten countries that comprise Southeast Asia. The United States and China constantly vie for position and influence in this enormously significant region, and the outcome of this contest will do much to determine whether Asia leaves the American orbit after seven decades and falls into a new Chinese sphere of influence. Just as important, to the extent that there is a global “power transition” occurring from the United States to China, the fate of Southeast Asia will be a good indicator. Presently, both powers bring important assets to bear. The United States continues to possess a depth and breadth of security ties, soft power, and direct investment across the region that empirically outweigh China’s. For its part, China has more diplomatic influence, much greater trade, and geographic proximity. In assessing the likelihood of a regional power transition, the book looks at how ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the countries within it maneuver between the United States and China and the degree to which they align with one or the other power.

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Sailing Together or Ships Passing in the Night? India and the United States in Southeast Asia

Asia Policy ◽

10.1353/asp.2019.0013 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 51-76

Author(s):

Walter C. Ladwig ◽

Anit Mukherjee

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Southeast Asia ◽

The United States

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Bones of Contention: China’s World War II Military Graves in India, Burma, and Papua New Guinea

Journal of Chinese Military History ◽

10.1163/22127453-12341339 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 52-99 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Linh D. Vu

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

World War Ii ◽

Southeast Asia ◽

Papua New Guinea ◽

New Guinea ◽

The United States ◽

World War ◽

Archival Documents ◽

Chinese State ◽

International Status

Abstract Exploring the construction and maintenance of Nationalist Chinese soldiers’ graves overseas, this article sheds light on post-World War II commemorative politics. After having fought for the Allies against Japanese aggression in the China-Burma-India Theater, the Chinese expeditionary troops sporadically received posthumous care from Chinese veterans and diaspora groups. In the Southeast Asia Theater, the Chinese soldiers imprisoned in the Japanese-run camps in Rabaul were denied burial in the Allied war cemetery and recognition as military heroes. Analyzing archival documents from China, Taiwan, Britain, Australia, and the United States, I demonstrate how the afterlife of Chinese servicemen under foreign sovereignties mattered in the making of the modern Chinese state and its international status.

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The Role of Congress in the Development of a Responsible American Policy Toward Angola

Issue A Journal of Opinion ◽

10.1017/s0047160700500286 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 18-21

Author(s):

Gerald J. Bender

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Political Parties ◽

Southeast Asia ◽

The United States ◽

Current Situation ◽

Commission Report ◽

American Policy

In addition to our discussions today of the current situation in Angola, I would like to direct my remarks to the question of what role, if any, the United States should play with regard to Angola, and concretely, how the Congress can assist in the formulation and execution of a responsible American policy toward Angola. We have all learned a number of important lessons from recent revelations about the conduct of American policy in Southeast Asia, about Government coverups such as Watergate, corporate bribery of foreign officials and political parties, and about the illegal and unacceptable activities of the CIA as described in the Rockefeller Commission report and elsewhere. Certainly we can apply some of these lessons to our present consideration of U.S. policy toward Angola; hopefully we will learn the vital facts and ask the necessary questions now, rather than, as has too often been the case, after the fact.

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