International Relations and the Political Foundations of American Relations with East Asia: Is It Any Different from Europe Concept

Abstract

As Asia becomes more important in world politics due mainly to the rise of China and the fact that Japan still is the second largest economy in the world, it has become important to study the kind of relations that exist in this region both from the historical perspective, the present and hopefully future behaviour of this region which I find very intriguing and thus will therefore want to delve deep into it and see how important the US is to the relations among countries of this region.In all these cases a mix of trade and aid created the enabling conditions that facilitated this end. Aid was absolutely necessary. The development of Western Europe would have been unimaginable without the role of the Marshall Aid plan. Similarly the Asian countries were a major beneficiary of US aid. UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa estimates that $500 million per year was given to Japan by the US between 1950 and 1970. Korea received economic and military investment that amounted to $13 billion between 1946 and 1978, whilst Taiwan received $5.6 billion. To answer the question why did both the US and national elites act in ways that were systemically beneficial. Chalmers Johnson explicitly accounts for the rise of the Japanese economic model by arguing that it was essentially a product of the cold war and the competitive relations between the US and Soviet political elites. Other more recent accounts speak of systemic vulnerability generated by specific political, security, and financial conditions, and yet others highlight the role of social mobilization and extra-institutional popular action in prompting these elite coalitions in the direction of broader developmental outcomes.The US interest in Europe was more economical because it had Europe as a ally from the onset but in East Asia, it was more discriminatory as the US was more interested in advance control of East Asia and Southeast Asia. Thus depending on the strategic interest of the US, it gave assistance.