HONOURS MODERN
HISTORY
The Rise of Asia
*When
World War II ended, most of Asia was either still under European
colonial rule or administered by American or Soviet occupation forces.
Most of the area was considered about as well-developed as Europe's
African colonies. However, the various European colonies gained
their independence in the 1940s and 1950s, and American occupation of
Japan formally ended in 1952 (although many American military bases
remain their today).
*American occupation and the Korean War were both good for Japan.
In 1946, Japan adopted a new constitution, largely written by
MacArthur, and based on the US and British Constitution, with a
bicameral Diet under a constitutional monarch. It retained the
Emperor, largely as a figurehead, abolished the other nobility, ended
Shinto as the official religion, and allowed other religions, notably
Christianity, to be practised. Women were also given the right to
vote and the education system was reformed and made available to more
people.
*America sent financial aid to Japan during the occupation period, and
Japan's role as a staging ground for many of the troops sent to Japan
also boosted its economy. Furthermore, although the war had
destroyed its industrial capacity, the expertise that had created it in
the first place remained.
*In the 1960s Japan began to boom economically. Taking advantage
of a large and well-educated labour force, Japan industrialised,
selling cheap goods on the world market, especially to the USA.
In the 1970s, Japan benefited from the Oil Crisis caused by the 1973
OPEC embargo by shifting from heavy industry to the light, high-tech
industries (such as electronics) it now excels in and by selling its
small, fuel-efficient cars in the USA. The rise of Japanese cars
in America dates to this time.
*Japan was not the only East Asian country to experience an economic
boom (although it was the most successful). Other Asian countries
(which were still comparable to Africa when the 1960s began) had a few
big advantages over other parts of the Third World: they had
relatively stable governments, relatively well-educated workforces,
large workforces (which would work cheaply), and access to good
transportation routes (by sea and major rivers).
*During that 1960s, Japan and the East Asian Tigers, Hong Kong (which
was then independent from China), Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan
saw tremendous growth in their economic power and their importance in
the world.
*Asia’s Tigers took advantage of their potential and nurtured it
further. They focused on improving their nations’ education
systems and on producing exports for the world market. They also
protected local property rights and human rights while doing so.
This export-oriented industrialisation drew the Tigers into the world
economy (although not perfectly, because the Tigers had high tariffs to
discouraged imports), developed their manufacturing sectors, and
created well-educated societies.
*About 1997 (and earlier, in the case of Japan), this model of EOI
failed, or at least hit some very rough spots, as economic problems in
other parts of the world caused demand for their exports to drop (and
reduced investment in the Tigers). Without anyone to buy their
products, their economies stalled. Like most Asian countries,
they also had traditions of saving rather than spending money, so local
demand for their own products was not enough to keep their economies
strong. This was made worse as speculation in the financial
market destroyed some important banks in Asia, which further limited
investment and spending in the region.
*Japan's economy had already stalled in the early 1990s. In part,
the wealth of the 1980s had caused companies and individuals to spend
and invest carelessly, putting money into bad investments that did not
pay off. Many Japanese companies also borrowed heavily (something
unusual in Asian cultures), and then found they could not repay their
debts. This led to a stock market crash in the early 1990s, and a
decade of poor economic performance. Although things are
improving again, Japan is no longer as dominant as it was in the 1980s,
when Japan’s economic power frightened even the USA.
*The Tigers have also suffered from the emergence of Red China and
India as major industrial nations that can now provide cheaper educated
workers than can the Tigers, which have grown wealthy enough that their
people will not work for low enough wages to remain competitive.
*In India and China, there are vast population resources that will
still work for very low wages. In part this is due to the Green
Revolution, an improvement in agricultural techniques in many Third
World Countries (due to increased use of machinery, fertilisers, and
pesticides, the introduction of new types of crops, and better systems
of irrigation and land management).
*Although the Green Revolution began in Mexico (which went from
importing half its wheat in 1943 to being self-sufficient in 1956 and
exporting half a million tons in 1964), its impact was most visible and
most famous in India, where the population (once frequently decimated
by famine) has more than tripled in size since Independence.
Today India is the world's largest democracy.
*China's population grew so quickly in the 1950s that China's
government (although initially very pleased) feared the population
would outstrip the government's ability to care for its people and
modernise the country. This led to the 'one-child policy,'
implemented in 1979, that has strongly encouraged parents to limit
their families to one child (twins are treated as a single
birth). In some areas and under some circumstances more children
have been permitted. Likewise, parents who have more children can
pay a fine. However, abortion and child abandonment became
increasingly common in China after the policy began, a large sex
imbalance has been created (about 119 boys per 100 girls), and a
generation of spoiled 'little emperors' have been raised as two parents
and four grandparents raised a single child.
*Today China and India are following EOI strategies, and India in
particular is also taking advantage of its large population of English
speakers to provide services to the western world, in such places as
call centres and telephone help desks. India's economy has grown
and is growing quickly, but China's has done so even more.
*After the death of Chairman Mao in 1976, the Communist Party of China
began quietly reforming their country, and bringing it more into line
with the rest of the world—indeed, during this period, China and the
USA began to normalise relations, especially after 1979, when the USA
recognised Red China as a sovereign state (partly to counterbalance the
USSR, which had a different brand of Communism, and now hated Red
China).
*In the late 1970s and 1980s, China opened trade with the outside
world, and allowed their own farmers to begin selling crops on the open
market. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the government created
Special Economic Zones—selected cities in which the government began to
step back from industry and allow companies to run themselves (much
like western capitalist countries). When China regained Hong Kong
(1997) and Macau (1999) it treated them as Special Administrative
Regions with many of their old economic freedoms permitted.
*Recently, China has begun reforming its banking system, closing
failing businesses, and trying to equalise income between the rich and
the poor in the country. Since these reforms began in 1978,
China’s economy has quadrupled.
*The USA has typically been very supportive of China’s efforts, partly
out of the hope that relaxation of government control in some areas
will lead to relaxation elsewhere, and thus more democracy and human
rights—indeed, it is hoped that a growing middle class will demand more
rights (as has happened in so many other places). Perhaps even
more important, China (like India) is an emerging economy, and with 1.3
billion Chinese people, we want them to buy things from the United
States. Furthermore, we want to be able to buy cheap products the
United States can no long produce profitably.
*Vietnam began some economic reforms based on those in China around 1995 (and in response the US recognised Vietnam).
*Today Japan in America's fourth largest trading partner, and China is
second. China is Japan's first partner while the US is (since
2004) its second. The growth of China also led to the rise of the
price of many metals, other construction materials, and oil in the part
few years.
*Parts of Asia (particulary the Middle East) are rich in oil, but so
are Russia, Indonesia, and Brunei, which had brought wealth to these
countries (or at least their leaders). Many central Asian
countries remain poor, however, as does East Timor. Myanmar still
has a repressive military dictatorship, and many countries have to deal
with terrorists and rebels.
*China and Taiwan still have disputes over who is the true government
of China. China also had border disputes with India (which also
has them with Pakistan). Japan has border disputes with
Russia. North and South Korea are officially seeking unification
(South Korea did encouraged a reduction of tensions with its Sunshine
Policy, but North Korea's nuclear tests in 2006 and a change in
presidents in South Korea in 2008 have threatened to end the Sunshine
Policy). China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea all have nuclear
weapons. In many ways, Asia has become very prosperous in the
past 50 years, even driving much of the world's economy, but it is
still more susceptible to economic problems than the West, and still
has many disagreements among and within its countries.
*Despite its remaining problems, Asia is on the rise and may one day be
the wealthiest and most powerful region on Earth (as it was before the
rise of Europe when modern history began).