Developments in Asian countries during the Cold War

Read this article to learn about the important developments in Asian countries during the cold war!

A reference has been made to some developments within and between Asian countries in the context of the Cold War.

It is necessary to mention a few other developments and events which are important in the history of the region.

Main Trends in Political Development:

The political development of Asian countries since their emergence as independent nations has followed many different trajectories.

While it may be said that the general direction of political developments in Asia has been towards the establishment of democratic systems, this has neither been smooth nor has it been without reversals. Not many countries in the region throughout the period since their independence have had a stable democratic political system.

The Indian political system is among the few which has remained democratic throughout its history as an independent nation. In some countries, such as Pakistan, there has been military rule for long periods. Democracy was restored with the holding of elections there recently, after about ten years of rule by General Pervez Musharaf as president. Burma (renamed Myanmar in 1989) started as a political democracy in 1948 but came under one-party rule in the early 1960s, with the armed forces playing a dominant role.

In May 1990, elections were held in Myanmar and the party led by Daw Aung Saun Suu Kyi, who had been put behind bars, swept the polls. However, no change was effected in the government even after the elections. Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for being an ‘important symbol in the struggle against repressions. She continued to be under house arrest for six years and was released in July 1995, only to be rearrested again.

Almost all through the following years, she has been under house arrest and a few times in jail. In 2008, her house arrest was extended by another year. All efforts by the United Nations in recent years to secure her release have failed.

In some countries in the region, there has been frequent political turmoil, often accompanied by violence. The overthrow of monarchies in some countries has been referred to earlier. This has, however, not always led to the establishment of democratic regimes.

There has been growing secularisation of political and social life also been trends which are the reverse of secularism. In some countries, religion has been used as a basis of political activities and even of nationhood.

An early example of such countries is Pakistan which was created on the basis of the Muslim League’s claim that Muslims in India constituted a separate nation and, therefore, should have a separate state. In some parts of the region, religious-political movements, with the active participation of religious leaders, have arisen.

These movements exercise, or seek to exercise, influence and even dominance on the state. They lay stress on the inviolability of their religious principles and advocate the view that these principles should form the fundamental basis of state policy in all spheres.

Their conception of religion is often highly dogmatic and obscurantist. Some of them do not hesitate to use terrorist methods against those who do not agree with them and for gaining their ends. These movements are often referred to as movements of religious fundamentalism.

There are also powerful socialist and communist movements in some countries of Asia. In three Asian countries—China, North Korea, and Vietnam—communist parties have been the ruling parties in their respective countries. In Mongolia, which adopted a parliamentary system of government, the former communist party is a major political force.

Developments in China:

The victory of the Communist Party of China in the civil war and the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949 have already been referred to. The communist victory in the most populous country in the world was considered a world-shaking event.

During the first few years of its rule, the Communist Party carried out radical land reforms and launched programmes for industrialisation. She received economic, technical and military aid from the Soviet Union with whom she had entered into an Alliance. China also developed close relations with India.

The two countries entered into an agreement in 1954 according to which Chinese suzerainty over Tibet was recognised by India and China reaffirmed the status of Tibet as an autonomous region. The five principles of peaceful coexistence, known as “Panchsheel”, were also a part of this agreement.

From the late 1950s, Chinese policies began to change. A reference has been made to the emphasis laid on peaceful coexistence by the Soviet leadership after the death of Stalin. The Chinese Communist Party, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, opposed this and the relations between the two countries began to deteriorate. By the early 1960s, the split between them was complete.

The Sino-Soviet split led to splits in many communist parties the world over. The Chinese started incursions into Indian Territory in the late 1950s. The Chinese policy in Tibet also changed and in 1959 the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers had to flee to India where they have lived ever since as refugees.

In 1962, there was a border war between India and China when the latter invaded Ladakh in the north-west and Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east. In her internal policies, this period is known for what was called the Great Leap Forward.

It aimed at accelerating the growth of economy. This was also the period when the growth of the personality cult of Mao Zedong began. His thought was extolled for its invincibility. The period from 1966 to 1969 was called the Cultural Revolution.

There was political turmoil in China during this period. In the name of continuing the revolution, thousands of people were disgraced and removed from their jobs by mobs of students and Red Guards. Centres for higher education were closed down and severe restrictions imposed on literary and cultural activities. China’s economic life was seriously disrupted.

In the early 1970s China was admitted to the United Nations. Her relations with the United States also improved. By then, China had become a nuclear power. Mao Zedong’s death in 1976 was followed by a fierce power struggle in China. By 1980, Deng Xiaoping had become the most important leader in China.

From the late 1970s, vast changes began to take place in China in every sphere. The damage done to the economy, political system, education and cultural life during the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath was undone. Her relations with the Soviet Union were normalised and there was a significant improvement in her relations with India.

There were significant advances in her economic life and there was an amazing acceleration in the growth of the Chinese economy, particularly from the 1990s. For many years, the annual growth rate has been about 11 per cent.

During the recent years, the economy of Chinese has been the fastest growing economy in the world and has become the fourth largest economy in the world. The economic policies and the ‘economic reforms’ that China has pursued during this period mark a sharp departure from the kind of policies that were followed earlier in the name of building socialism.

There was not only the beginning and increasing spread of private (capitalist) enterprises but also massive foreign investments. Officially the new system is described as ‘market socialism’. Along with economic growth, inequalities in society have also grown giving rise to new tensions. The disparities in the living standards of the rural and urban populations have been particularly marked.

A major significant event has been the transfer of Hong Kong to China by Britain which came into effect in 1997. It may be recalled that Hong Kong which was a part of China had become a British colony in 1842 after the First Opium War. In course of time, it had become a leading financial capital of the world.

It became a part of China as a Special Administrative Region retaining a great deal of internal autonomy as well as its character as an advanced capitalist economy. Hong Kong becoming a part of China while retaining its autonomy and capitalist system, is described as ‘one country, two systems’.

It may be noted that while vast changes of a basic nature have taken place in the economic policies of the country, China’s political system continues to be under the exclusive control of the Communist Party of China.

While the kind of regimentation which characterised China’s political and cultural life for many years has come to an end, there has been little progress in the direction of political democracy. In the late 1980s, there was widespread upsurge for democratic rights in Beijing and some other major cities of China. It began with protest demonstrations by students in April 1989 in Beijing with Tiananmen Square in the city becoming as the rallying center of what was described as the Democracy Movement.

There were massive demonstrations in Beijing in May 1989 by students, who were joined by others, with hundreds of students going on hunger strike. To clear the Tiananmen Square of the demonstrators, the troops of the PLA (China’s army known as the People’s Liberation Army) were brought in on 3 June who resorted to indiscriminate firing. On 4 June, the Square was cleared of demonstrators and the movement was crushed.

According to foreign media and observers, several thousand people were killed in the Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in the city. There has been little change in the country’s political system since the events of 1989. By the early years of the twenty-first century, however, China had emerged as one of the most powerful countries of the world.

Conflicts and Wars:

There have been many other conflicts and wars between Asian countries after 1945. In most of these the two major superpowers of the world were not directly involved. There-have was three wars between India and Pakistan.

The first war took place in 1947 soon after the two countries became independent. After Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India, the invasion of Kashmir launched from and with the support of Pakistan was halted by Indian troops.

In 1965, there was another war when Pakistan sent her infiltrators into Kashmir. The third war took place in 1971 over the question of Bangladesh which will be referred to separately. In the 1980s, relations between the two countries were strained because of the aid which Pakistan gave to terrorists in Punjab.

Since the late 1980s, a major issue of conflict between the two countries has been the Pakistani support to the secessionist elements in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly Pakistan’s training and arming of terrorist groups operating in Kashmir.

Though there have been talks between the leaders of the two countries with both countries committing themselves to resolving the Kashmir issue through negotiations, the infiltration of armed groups trained in camps located in Pakistan, particularly in territories of Kashmir which are under Pakistan occupation [POK], into Jammu and Kashmir across the Line of Control has not ceased.

In 1998, war broke out between the two countries in the Kargil region of Kashmir. There had been large scale infiltration by Pakistani soldiers in this mountainous region in May 1998. Indian armed forces, including the air force, succeeded in defeating the Pakistani forces and inflicting heavy casualties on them.

The war ended in July 1998, with most countries blaming Pakistan for violating the Line of Control [LOC]. The war remained confined to the Kargil area and did not lead to a general war between the two countries. In 1999, Pervez Musharaf, chief of Pakistan’s army, overthrew the civilian government and became the President of Pakistan. In 2001, there was a summit meeting between him and Indian Prime Minister at Agra but it ended without any formal agreement between the two countries. Pervez Musharaf had to resign as president in 2008 after the elections in Pakistan.

The elections had been preceded by the assassination of Benazeer Bhutto who had been Pakistan’s prime minister twice and had led the movement for the restoration of democracy in the country along with other political parties and groups.

In the meantime, many citizen groups in both countries have been active in promoting people to people contacts to create an atmosphere of peace and harmony between the peoples of the two countries. Some steps towards normalisation of relations between the two countries have been taken by the governments of the two countries.

For example, train services between Delhi and Lahore (the train is appropriately known as Samjhauta Express) and bus services between the two cities have been resumed. Road transport between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad (the latter in POK) has been started.

The end of army rule and the restoration of democracy have opened up possibilities of further steps in promoting relations of peace and harmony between the two countries. Both the countries since 1998 are countries with nuclear weapons and this has made the establishment of peaceful and cordial relations between them more imperative than ever before.

In 1980, war broke out between Iran and Iraq. There had been some disputes over boundary between the two countries as well as political differences. The war continued for eight years taking a toll of hundreds of thousands of lives in both the countries and causing serious damage to their economies.

In 1991, there was a war between Iraq and a number of other countries including USA. In August 1990, Iraq had occupied Kuwait. On her refusal to end her occupation, the United Nations authorised the use of force against her. On 17 January 1991, war broke out in which there was large-scale use of missiles by both sides.

This was the first major war in which the US troops were directly involved after the end of the Cold War. It came to an end on 28 February 1991 after the forces of the US and her allies in the war had entered the territory of Iraq and Kuwait and Iraq had ordered the withdrawal of her troops from Kuwait. It had a shattering effect on the economy of Iraq besides taking a huge toll of human lives.

Bangladesh as an Independent Nation:

Pakistan, which was created with the partition of India in 1947, was divided two parts—East Pakistan and West Pakistan. The two parts were separated by about 1600 km of Indian Territory. The only bond which united the two parts was religion—the majority of the population in both parts was Muslim.

Soon it was clear that religion could not be the basis of nationhood. Almost immediately after the creation of Pakistan, there had been a movement for autonomy by the people of East Pakistanis. The Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman spearheaded the movement.

While the people of East Pakistan comprised more than half the population of Pakistan, the government and the armed forces were dominated by West Pakistanis. East Pakistan was also economically exploited by West Pakistan and her language, Bengali, and culture were sought to be suppressed.

In the elections held in December 1970, the Awami League swept the polls in East Pakistan, winning 168 out of 169 seats. It was expected that Pakistan would now frame a new federal constitution which would guarantee greater autonomy to East Pakistan.

It was also expected that with the Awami League as the majority party in Pakistan, Mujibur Rahman would form the government at the centre. However, the meeting of the newly elected assembly was not allowed to be held leading to widespread demonstrations in East Pakistan.

To suppress the protest demonstrations, the army was sent to East Pakistan and Mujibur Rahman was arrested in West Pakistan. Soon after, the independent state of Bangladesh was proclaimed with its own guerrilla army to fight against the Pakistan army.

Thousands of people were killed and millions of Bangladeshis entered India as refugees. The influx of millions of refugees into India created a difficult situation for India and she intervened in support of the people of Bangladesh on 3 December 1971. Pakistani troops unconditionally surrendered on 16 December. In January 1972, Mujibur Rahman was released and on his return he became the first prime minister of the independent state of Bangladesh.

The emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation was an event of great historical significance, particularly for the Indian sub­continent. It was a serious blow to the theory of nationhood on the basis of religion.

The period after independence has been marked by long periods of political instability and military rule in Bangladesh. On 15 August 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly known as Bangabandhu, who had led the struggle for independence and was the President of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with most members of his family.

This was followed by army rule with General Ziaur Rahman as president. Zia was assassinated in 1981 and was followed by General Ershad. He resigned and in 1991 elections was held which brought Khaleda Zia, Ziaur Rahman’s widow to power as prime minister.

In 1996, Sheikh Hasina the surviving daughter of Mujib and leader of the Awami League, won the election and became prime minister. In 2001, the Awami League was defeated and Khaleda Zia again came to power. There have been wide spread political disturbances in the country.

The forces of religious fundamentalism have been growing in strength. Elections that were due to be held in 2006 were not held. In January 2007, a caretaker government, with the active backing of the army, took over power and a promise of holding elections.

A large number of political workers and leaders, including Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, were arrested and put behind bars. It is almost two years since the caretaker government took over power but there is still no firm announcement of elections.

Regional Groupings:

In spite of tensions and conflicts, a number of regional groupings have emerged in Asia to promote common political, economic, social and cultural interests and cooperation among its members. The Arab League, which has 21 Arab states, including Palestine, as its members, was set up in 1945. ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), comprising six countries of Southeast Asia— Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia—was set up in 1967.

Most of these countries are among the fastest growing economies in the world and ASEAN has played an important role in the economic development of each of its members. Vietnam became
the seventh member of ASEAN in July 1995.

Another major regional grouping which was set up in 1985 is SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). It comprises seven countries— India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Because of strains in the relations between some of these countries, SAARC’s actual achievements have so far been limited.

Commonwealth of Nations:

Commonwealth of Nations was formed before the Second World War but acquired a different character after the end of the Second World War. It had started as an association of self-governing British colonies and was referred to as the British Commonwealth and Empire.

After India became independent, followed by the independence of other British colonies, its character changed. It was no longer ‘British’ and ‘Empire’ but an association of independent nations which had once been British colonies. Its members, now numbering fifty independent countries, follow their own’ independent policies in their domestic and foreign affairs.

Its multiracial character as well as the variety of political, social and economic systems that its members represent has made the Commonwealth an extremely useful body for discussing important issues and for promoting cooperation in various fields.