K. Holly-Maze Carter - The Asian Dilemma in U.S. Foreign Policy: National Interest Versus Strategic Planning

National Interest versus Strategic Planning

K. Holly Maze Carter

An East Gate Book

First published 1989 by M.E. Sharpe

Published 2015 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carter, K. Holly Maze.
The Asian dilemma in U.S. foreign policy : national interest versus strategic planning / K. Holly Maze Carter.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-87332-512-5 ISBN 0-87332-544-3 (pbk.)
1. East AsiaForeign relationsUnited States. 2. United StatesForeign relationsEast Asia. 3. Asia, SoutheasternForeign relationsUnited States. 4. United StatesForeign relationsAsia, Southeastern. I. Title. II. Title: Asian dilemma in US foreign policy.
DS518.8.C4 1989
327.7305dc19

88-34619
CIP

ISBN 13: 9780873325448 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9780873325127 (hbk)

This book presents an overview of U.S. foreign policy in the East Asian region. It has grown out of many years of frustration with developing reading lists for my students that provide a perspective broad enough to identify specific trends in U.S. foreign policy in East Asia. This broad perspective is given here for U.S. relations with China, Taiwan, Japan, the Korean peninsula, the Philippines, and Vietnam, from the Second World War to the present.

The East Asian region is of great importance to U.S. national interests. From an economic perspective, U.S. trade with East Asia represents over half of all U. S. trade and exceeds trade with Europe by a two to-one margin. On the military front, the United States has been engaged in three major conflicts in the regionthe Pacific War with Japan, the Korean conflict, and the Vietnam War. The United States has mutual cooperation and security relations with Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, and an arms supply agreement with Taiwan. Furthermore, the security relations are backed up with major military base complexes in the host country. Politically, East Asia has been the stage for a cold war struggle with the Soviet Union over strategic sphere of influence in the region. The United States has supported political leaders in China and the Philippines; has supported and orchestrated the postwar recoveries of Japan and, in some measure, South Korea; and currently is providing support for the rapid modernization plans of China. Economically, militarily, and politically, it is clear that the East Asian region is important to U.S. national interests.

The American experience in East Asia has been characterized by both bright success and dismal failure. The task of this book is neither to criticize nor to defend the conduct of American foreign policy in East Asia. Rather, it is to provide a political analysis, with historical perspective, that will enhance the reader's understanding of U.S. foreign policy experiences in the region. Through an analysis of key foreign policy events in East Asia, the book explores the role of U.S. national interests in the foreign policy process. It examines the components of foreign policy formation in the United States and seeks to explain the influences of global and national issues on foreign policy. In sum, through an analysis of two hundred years of U.S. foreign policy in East Asia, the book juxtaposes U.S. national interests with the presence and absence of strategic planning in the foreign policy process.

The analysis begins with an overview of the U.S. foreign policy process and an introduction to the central issues of U.S. policy making toward East Asia. The first chapter provides an historical framework for early American experiences in East Asia. Subsequent chapters explore U.S. military involvement, trade and aid relationships, the national and international politics of American bilateral relationships in the region, and American responses to nationalism, communism, and modernization in East Asia. The final chapter explores the future of U.S. foreign policy in the region.

I am indebted to many sources for support in the preparation of this book. Northeastern University provided financial assistance for the background research through a grant awarded by the Research and Development Fund and funding assistance for a sabbatical in Japan in 1985. Additionally, my position as senior policy planning officer for East Asia and the Pacific on the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State during the Carter administration provided insights into the inner workings of the U.S. foreign policy process rarely available to an academician. I am grateful to Northeastern University for granting me an academic leave of absence to serve in this capacity. Thanks are also due to the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University, whose library provided a valuable resource and whose office space provided a quiet haven for the drafting of the manuscript.

Many thanks must also go to colleagues who gave encouragement and advice in the review of this manuscript. Robert Sutter of the Library of Congress and Talbot Huey of the University of Maryland were particularly helpful in the conceptual development of this work. Lucian Pye, my adviser at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, provided the added burst of confidence needed to accomplish this task. Douglas Merwin of M. E. Sharpe was extraordinarily supportive in his role as editor. Mahfuzul Chowdhury provided valuable research assistance. Karen Karidoyanes and Lucy Asforis assumed the task of typing various drafts of the manuscript. My students at Northeastern provided the rationale and challenge for this work. Their thirst for knowledge was a source of inspiration. Finally, and most especially, this book would not exist without the support of my family. My mother was the role model for hard work and accomplishment. My husband served many capacities: counselor, typist, critic, mentor, and occasional cook and bottle washerall with love and support. It is due to his belief in me that this book was completed. My children endured the chaos associated with such a task with a patience and understanding far beyond their years.