The United States and the "Chinese Problem" of Southeast Asia

• Main Author: NGOEI, Wen-Qing
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Chinese diaspora; Southeast Asia; Cold War; United States; colonialism; China; communism; World War II; Asian Studies; International Relations; Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3268; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4525/viewcontent/dhaa084.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This essay examines how US Cold War policy toward all of Southeast Asia arose from American suspicions that the region's Chinese diaspora would align itself with the Chinese communists against the west. In so doing, it explores how US distrust of the Chinese diaspora fell in step with a longer imperialist tradition practised not only by the European powers for centuries, but also the Japanese Empire during its brief ascendancy during World War Two. Additionally, the essay proposes that to move beyond the bilateral studies that dominate the histories of US-Southeast Asian relations to view the region as whole, it could be productive to consider US attitudes and policies toward the region-wide Chinese diaspora.