Asia International Relations Essay Research Paper International — страница 6

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rivalry.” The rapprochement between China and South Korea in 1992, as a means to establish regional peace, hinted a possible emergence of a triangular relationship with the PRC in the best position to influence the two Koreas. The increasing economic interaction between China and South Korea, a major inspiration and product of the rapprochement is coupled with North Korea’s attempts at gradually adopting the South Korea model of economic development transmitted through China. Through this triangle we see the emphasis on political stability and economic prosperity, quite different to the post Cold War concerns involving Korea and China. The rapprochement between North and South Korea has also forced Japan to build her ties with the former. From Japan’s point of view this is

necessary for the building of a ?new international order,’ while from North Korea’s perspective this represents an opening for economic assistance from Japan. Everyone now wants a piece of the pie, even North Korea! Moreover, during the Cold War, the US consistently supported and enhanced South Korea in its rivalry with North Korea. With the demise of the Soviet Union, the US endorsed South Korea’s ambitious northern diplomacy (Nordpolitik) that was primarily designed to normalize its relations with the Soviet Union, China and Eastern Europe, but was also intended to ease its frozen confrontation with North Korea. During the Cold War the US regarded its military position in the Korean peninsula as a pivotal buffer to protect Japan’s security interests and to

counterbalance strategic ascendancy of the Soviet Union and China. According to Curtis, today “US troops serve as a buffer between the two Koreas, as a check against Japan’s military expansion and as a message to China and Russia that the US will remain a Pacific power. It is the most visible evidence of the US resolve to protect US economic interests.” Hence, the politics of the Korean peninsula, which have become so integral to the system of international relations in Asia can be seen in terms of a whole set of triangular interactions. Russia Another way in which strategic geometry is a useful concept for understanding the transition from a Cold War to a post Cold War system is through the disappearance and obsoleteness of some of the old triangles. Russia is such as case

in point. The collapse of the Soviet Union has radically altered the face of international politics in East Asia, beginning with Gorbachev who revised three central features of post war Soviet policy in Asia by: 1. freeing it from the albatross of Sino-Soviet conflict 2. by suppressing the dominating idea of an East-West contest, shifted Soviet policy towards Japan. 3.by ending the Sino- Soviet conflict meant that China was no longer the motivation for Moscow’s preoccupation with quantity and quality of arms, and hence did away with the significance of the Sino-Soviet-US triangle. “By altering Soviet priorities and by changing with whom and for what reason the Soviet Union would compete, Gorbachev brought an end to the pernicious geometry of the previous three decades.

Triangles, by definition, are inherently tension filled; they are tripolarity with built in antagonism. Until, Gorbachev the quadrangle was in fact, two- perhaps-three-triangles. He terminated two triangles in which Soviet Union had a part.” In the post Cold War era, “Russia’s relevance is not likely to be a factor affecting the basic equilibrium in East Asia.” According to Mandlebaum, Russia and her new neighbors have become of marginal importance to the central concerns of the other three powers. The fall of communism and Russia’s less intrusive role in Asia has meant that many of the old interactions and old triangles have ceased to be relevant. This power who to the greatest extent, viewed the politics of Asia in terms of strategic geometry, today, has a diminished

presence, if virtually a non-existent one in the regions major strategic geometry. Asia to the Russians has become Central Asia. “The Soviet Union’s security agenda whose focus divided entirely between China and US- Japanese connection, while not wholly abandoned has for the new Russia shifted dramatically towards Central Asia.” Subsequently this has meant China’s increased importance among East Asian states for Russia. Currently, Russia’s most important ally in Asia is Kazakhstan, having taken on the role of Kazakhstan’s nuclear protector (not unlike the US with Japan), but Russia also cares about internal developments within Kazakhstan and the evolution of its foreign relations, particularly with China. There maybe prospects here for a lesser regional triangle