Currents of Power: U.S. Alliances with Japan and Taiwan during the Cold War

Abstract

America’s preference to remain detached and distant from Asia at the turn of the twentieth century stands in contrast to its deep engagement in a network of bilateral alliances during and fifty years after the cold war. U.S. missionary and commercial interests in the earlier period contrast starkly with its later expansive role as the core underwriter of security. Despite these differences, a common preference informed U.S. strategy toward Asia in both periods. This was the desire not to allow America to become overextended in Asia. Even when offering a security umbrella to countries in the region, the United States remained acutely sensitive to avoiding deep entanglements in the defense sector and affairs of the region.

It should be noted that up to 1898—indeed to 1900—the American policy of respect for the territorial integrity of the Far Eastern nations had the effect of a purely self-denying ordinance. It did not enjoin on the United States the obligation of defending this territorial integrity from others. The United States was thus able to keep free of serious involvement in the politics of Eastern Asia.¹