INDO PACIFIC SECURITY PERSPECTIVES : UNITED STATES TWO DIFFERING LEGACIES IN INDO PACIFIC-KISSINGER'S "CHINA MONSTER" AND GENERAL MACARTHUR'S "JAPAN AS ENDURING ALLY"

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

UNITED STATES TWO DIFFERING LEGACIES IN INDO PACIFIC-KISSINGER'S "CHINA MONSTER" AND GENERAL MACARTHUR'S "JAPAN AS ENDURING ALLY"

In mid-2020 as the world witnesses the United States waking up to the serious threat posed by China to Indo Pacific Security and China's bid to challenge US predominance as the reigning sole Superpower, two opposing images strike one's mind in terms of geopolitical and strategic legacy issues inherited by the United States from its 20th Century diplomatic history.

The immediate image and a disturbing one is that of the "China Monster" created by the flawed China-centric foreign policy of US President Nixon in early 1970s goaded and manoeuvred by his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

In my assessment US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was mythicized as a great statesman imbued with retaining United States supremacy as the only Superpower. Perceptionally, Kissinger went overboard pursuing political expediency of balancing the Former USSR--then a opposing Superpower, by inducing China into a quasi-strategic ally of the United States.

How long did that last? By the 1980s the United States was having second thoughts on China as a strategic partner against the Former Soviet Union.

Kissinger's assessments of China and Pakistan which he used as an intermediary for openings to Communist China for normalisation of US-China relations in 1970 were deeply flawed.

Ironically today, China today has turned out as a 'Fire Spitting Dragon' engaged in undermining US national security interests all over the Indo Pacific and Pakistan as US Non- NATO Ally and recipient of billions of US dollars in aid has switched from being a 'Front Line State' of the United States to emerge in recent years as 'Front Line State of China' undermining US interests in Indo Pacific Western Segment.

Obviously, Kissinger's geopolitical vision and formulations on China and Pakistan were grievously wrong in that within a span of 30 years or so both China and Pakistan have turned adversarial to the United States.

In marked contrast to Henry Kissinger's politically expedient legacy what shines out is General Douglas MacArthur's enduring legacy of Japan as an "Enduring Ally" of the United States which has steadfastly proven its Alliance commitments to US Security interests and to Indo Pacific Security for nearly 70 years plus.

In an act of far-sighted statesmanship General MacArthur transformed United States World War II vanquished Japan humbled into submission by two Atomic Bombings into the United States most enduring military ally with due respects and honours.

Japan has more than repaid General MacArthur's trust in Japan reposed on behalf of the United Sates. In 2020 the Indo Pacific Security Template led by the United States rests honourably on the shoulders of Japan as a great Asian Major Power. Japan is the pivot of US security interests.

China contrastingly having achieved exponential military and economic power courtesy 'Flawed China Policy' of Kissinger and follow-up United States policies of 'China Appeasement' and 'Risk Aversion Strategies' of US in relation to China has stabbed in the back the United States as its benefactor.

One wonders today as to why it took so long for US policy establishment to recognise that the 'China Threat' was evolving into United States most serious security challenge. Presumably, US industrial giants lulled by Kissinger into massive US investments in China were looking more into their balance-sheets than the 'China Threat ' -in-the-making because of US permissiveness.

The United States owes a great national debt of honour to General MacArthur.If the United States is firmly embedded in the Western Pacific even in 2020, the credit goes to General MacArthur far-sightedness Japan-policy post August 1945.

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Dr Subhash Kapila—Academic & Professional Profile

Dr Subhash Kapila is a Graduate of the Royal British Army Staff College.UK.: has a Masters in Defence Science from Madras University with his thesis on ‘India’s Foreign Policy in Far East Asia’ and a Doctorate from Allahabad University with his thesis in 1994 on ‘Asia Pacific Security-2000 AD Perspectives’.

Dr Subhash Kapila combines a rich and varied professional experience of Indian Army (Brigadier) in criteria appointments on Command, Staff and Instructional. Indian Army service encompassed long tenures on India’s borders with China and Pakistan.

Dr Subhash Kaila’s professional exposures also include diplomatic assignments in United States, Japan, South Korea and also official tenures in UK and Bhutan. These years of diplomatic and official assignments afforded deep insights on Asia Pacific security challenges and China-watching from different perches.

Dr Subhash Kapila has authored two books--- ‘China-India Military Confrontation:21^st Century Perspectives’ (2015) and an earlier one on India’s Defence Policies & Strategic Thought-A Comparative Analysis’ (2004)

Dr Subhash Kapila has authored over nearly 2000 Papers on Geopolitical, Foreign Policy and Strategic topics of Major Powers like USA, China, Japan and regional issues of South Asia, South East Asia and the Middle East.

Dr Subhash Kapila has presented Papers at international forums in Russia, Japan, Turkey and Vietnam and National and University Seminars in India.

Invited for TV/Radio discussions by CNN, BBC, Pakistan Geo TV and multiple Indian Channels.

INDO PACIFIC REGION—GEOPOLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE

“Indo Pacific Region encompassing the vast geographical expanse from West Coast of the United States to the Eastern Littoral of Africa on the Indian Ocean and Australia in South Pacific has emerged in recent years as a fulcrum of global security and stability.

Competing security narratives led by the United States and a reactive hardly credible narrative by China challenges foreign policy and security policies directions of Major Powers in the Indo Pacific comprising United States. India, Japan and Australia.

Needless to highlight as so many academic treatises have already done so that Indo Pacific Security Template as a strategic construct and narrative emerged so as a narrative in the last decade generated by fears of China’s not so benign intentions manifested from Himalayan Heights of China Occupied Tibet borders with India to the Western Pacific seas, and more pointedly to the South China Sea where China has indulged in military aggression ad coercive brinkmanship to establish “Full Spectrum Dominance” endangering Indo Pacific Security as a whole.”------------Dr Subhash Kaila’s earlier writings.

“The Indo Pacific has assumed tectonic significance for a wide range of nations affirming their agency in an uncertain world. Far from being an obscure account of of words and maps, the narratives of Indo Pacific nations hands a great dilemma of the 21^st Century: how can other countries respond to a strong and coercive China without resorting to capitulation or conflict.” –Professor Rory Metcalf, Australian National University.

“In this century, the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean Rim which some refer as the Indo Pacific will become the world’s centre of gravity.”---Australian Defence Minister