- The United States -Southeast Asia connection goes way back to the early 20th century.
- Emerging communism in South East Asia has been influential US’s interest in the region.
- Today, Southeast Asia holds major political, economic as well as security interests to the United States.
- US was involved in Vietnam’s struggle to contain communism.
- The US declared its anti-communism stand with the Truman Doctrine which saw communism as a threat to freedom hence giving them a reason to stop its spread.
- This was after World War II when Vietnam split into the communist north and the capitalist south.
- The US declared its anti-communism stand with the Truman Doctrine which saw communism as a threat to freedom hence giving them a reason to stop its spread.
- The US supported the Southern Vietnam by deploying their military to both train and support in fighting.
- The US has employed economic means to partly defeat terrorism and enhance its political relationship with the region.
- The US interest communism in the Southeast Asia saw the US sign a series of agreements in the 1950s.
- The agreements included financial aid, military support and cessation of hostility letters among others as listed in The Avalon Project.
- There are positive results of the US-Southeast Asia affiliation. Vietnam for example has now opened its doors to the world, thanks to this affiliation.
For years now, the United States has been acknowledged globally for its support of peace, security and sustainable economic growth, within and outside its frames. Its connection with the Southeast Asia goes way back to the early 20th century, implying 1920s onwards. Its initial interest in Southeast Asia is a consequence of an emerging communism that was developing in the countries and was threatening to spread to the rest of the world, something that Americans could not take. Perhaps it was because of communism’s ideology that defines its actions as universal.
Southeast Asia is a term for Asian countries south of China, bordering India to the east and positioned north of Australia. It is composed of two regions; the mainland and the islands and archipelagoes. Politically, it encompasses countries like Brunei, Burma often called Myanmar, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Majority of these countries today have a democratic form of government and are welcoming human rights groups. A number of them have joined the ASEAN- Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
First as mentioned earlier, communism was the reason the United States gave attention to the Southeast Asia. Communism refers to a governing structure, in which classes are abolished and property is centrally controlled so that all people are equal or the philosophy itself that ensures existence and proliferation of such a society. It was proposed that this line of thought would in the end bring sufficient property for all; if only the legacy went all around the world (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1).Its universal dimension saw the United States start measures to reduce its strength. More particularly the US was involved in Vietnam’s struggle to contain communism. It was after the World War II when Vietnam broke into two, the northern was under communism while the southern was not. The US declared its anti-communism stand with the Truman Doctrine which saw communism as a threat to freedom hence giving them a reason to stop its spread. In doing this, the US supported the Southern Vietnam by deploying their military to both train and support in fighting. Their efforts failed so that the southern Vietnam eventually surrendered in 1975. This is in part because of insufficient domestic support in the US.
It was after the World War II when Vietnam broke into two, the northern was under communism while the southern was not. The US declared its anti-communism stand with the Truman Doctrine which saw communism as a threat to freedom hence giving them a reason to stop its spread. In doing this, the US supported the Southern Vietnam by deploying their military to both train and support in fighting. Their efforts failed so that the southern Vietnam eventually surrendered in 1975. This is in part because of insufficient domestic support in the US.
Secondly, the US has employed economic means to partly defeat terrorism and enhance its political relationship with the region. This has been possible because of the aforementioned ASEAN which offers a pull of resources as well as market unlike if it was dealing with a single country (Rawdon, par 10).
The US interest communism in the Southeast Asia saw the US sign a series of agreements in the 1950s. They included financial aid, military support and cessation of hostility letters among others as listed in The Avalon Project. It was later in 1959 when Fidel Castro established a communism state in the neighboring Cuba, something that the United States government rebuked and refuted him funds he had solicited; clearly a show that US is purely against communism.
Reference List
Cronin, R. (2008) US-ASEAN Relations; New Challenges to Stability in Southeast Asia. Web.
Rawdon D. (n.d) History of South East Asia. ASEAN Focus Group. Web.
The Avalon Project (2008). Indochina – Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Web.
The Columbia Encyclopedia (2008). Communism. Web.