World Order: Reflections on the Character of Nations and the Course of History

In “The Multiplicity of Asia,” the author discusses the developments in South and East Asia including regional history, European and Japanese colonialism, key challenges, and foreign policy styles. He focuses on the following categories: “Asia and Europe: Different Concepts of Balance of Power,” “Japan,” “India,” and “What Is an Asian Regional Order?” The author covers the subject of China in the subsequent chapter of its own.

According to Kissinger, Asia differs from Europe in its perception of the balance of power. Even the term “Asia” itself unites a very diverse region. This diversity is cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism are the major religions there. In the 19th century, many Asian countries were subjected to European control because “the European states built colonies and justified their actions under various versions of their so-called civilizing mission” (172-173). The process of decolonization and a subsequent change in regional order in Asia was violent. This process ranged from the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949) and the Korean War (1950-1953) to the four Indo-Pakistan Wars in the period from 1947 to 1999 and the Khmer Rouge brutality in Cambodia (1975-1979). At the end of this process, a “national-interest-based foreign policy seemed to have prevailed in Asia” (177). Today, many Asian nations are rising according to every measurable parameter, including power and wealth.

It was Japan that resisted Western meddling the most as compared to other Asian countries. Japan borrowed much from China, such as adopting and adapting the Chinese writing system. Traditionally, the Emperor led the Japanese society. In part, due to its unique island geography, Japan was able to practice a policy of isolation until the middle of the 19th century. With few exceptions, Japan only maintained relations with Korea and permitted the Chinese and European traders to operate in limited ways.

All this changed in 1853 when four American ships arrived in Tokyo Bay. Japan’s Meiji era (1868-1912) allowed that country to join the Westphalian order on equal terms and to modernize rapidly. However, Japan’s goal was to remove its European colonial competition from the region so that it could colonize it for itself. Japan did exactly this between the late 1920s and 1945 and conquered much of Asia. Its loss in World War II and postwar American occupation allowed Japan to undergo another round of modernization:

Japan’s leaders adapted their country’s unique demilitarized role to Japanese long-term strategic purposes. They transformed the pacifist aspects of the postwar order from a prohibition against military action to an imperative to focus on other key elements of national strategy, including economic revitalization (189).

As the political landscape continues to change, Japan seeks to “become a ‘normal country’ with a military not constitutionally barred from war and an active alliance policy” (190).

After analyzing Japan, Kissinger moves on to India. In contrast to Japan’s isolation, India underwent extensive European colonialism, which, Kissinger argues, “reshaped a great civilization into a modern state” (192). The author briefly analyzes the history of India, such as the export of Buddhism o other parts of Asia, and all the invasions India had to withstand, including the Persians, the Arabs, and the Turks:

For nearly a millennium, India—with its fertile soil, wealthy cities, and resplendent intellectual and technological achievements—became a target for conquest and conversion (197).

Some of the invaders, such as the 16th-century Mughals, were able to unite much of the subcontinent. The British colonizers conceptualized a type of India that was “based on the security of a continental swath of territories encompassing the contemporary states of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar” (199). In contrast, postcolonial India perceives itself as a nation and as a carrier of moral principles of universal nature. This country preferred to be neutral even during the Cold War. This policy allowed India to use the support of both the USSR and the United States in the diplomatic and military realms. In the 21st century, India has been pursuing a similar type of diplomacy.