Bad karma in Asia

Abstract

Beginning with its wrongful engagement in China's civil war in 1945 and ending in 1991 with the civil war in Cambodia, for which it bears considerable responsibility, the U.S. government waged war in Asia—sometimes unilaterally and unlawfully (without Congressional consent), sometimes in concert with the United Nations or other allies. This article charts the development of U.S. involvement in Asia by moving backward in time, from present effects to past causes. The author argues that U.S. involvement in all three nations of Indo-China was at all times subordinate to the primary problem of U.S. relations with China. Therefore, to contextualize and illustrate events in Indo-China, the author addresses the changing pattern in U.S.-China relations by focusing on these questions: (1) How did China factor into U.S. policy toward Cambodia during and after the Vietnam War? (2) How did the United States and China, after two decades of enmity, become “friends” in the early 1970s, and how does this policy change relate to the Vietnam War? (3) How did the United States and China, allies against Japan in World War II, become “enemies” after World War II, and how was this change part of a broader pattern of colonial restoration in Asia? (4) How did U.S. favor in Asia shift from Japan to China beginning in late 1938 and how did this switch set the stage for the future (post-World War II) entanglements of U.S. policy in Asian affairs?