The Role And Main Consequences Of The Cold War

The two articles clearly contrast each other on the several point in which I came up with the assumption to explain the significance of the Cold war and its consequences. Disagreeably, the article I misprint on how the Cold war occurred in East Asia and another region. It only addresses the action and ideology of superpowers and the irrelevance of the nuclear weapon. Meanwhile, to argue with the first one, article II, agreeably, comprehensively note the misperception of the previous article and recognize the role of nuclear weapons in maintaining the stability. East Asia is significant to describe the production and relations which has shaped by Cold war until nowadays.

In these extents, I set out to explain accordingly to what the first article overlooks; 1.) Cold war significantly took place in East Asia. 2.) Conventional War that stemmed from Superpowers’ policy, and 3.) the existence of nuclear weapons that made Cold war never found its end. Cold war largely explained the severe tension between the United States and Soviet Union in influencing its proxy states. Article I significantly note that there are merely 3 significances taking into account of Cold War; Superpowers (US. and USSR), Ideologies, and Nuclear weapon. However, first off, East Asia too was one of the regions that suffered from the brunt of the cold war, being divided on the line of alliances to side with two hegemon powers. China, Japan, and North and South Korea interacted to one another in a way that they were politically, ideologically and economically compiled to its alliance until nowadays. In China, the solidarity of the Communist world was concerned in East Asia at the very beginning of the Cold War by the Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

Although the communism in China and USSR are defined differently due to interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Leninism, namely the Sino-Soviet split, they are still put in similar category of the communist bloc. During the period of Cold war, the Chinese involvement in the Korean peninsula in the early 1950s marked the beginning of the several decades of unfriendly confrontation between the Chinese communist regime and the United States. The two countries were also on opposing sides in Indochina during the 1960s when the US tried to prevent losing Southeast Asian countries to the Communist camp through the domino effect. Aside, the US also supported the Kuomintang government that retreated to Taiwan after it was defeated by Communist forces on mainland China. The tension of the communist bloc against the US. were arose not only with USSR, but also with China.

Moreover, after losing in World war II, Japan was acted in accordance with the US in implementing the capitalist and democratic regime. The system also allowed access to the American market and other economic benefits to US allies in the region. During the Cold War era Washington’s approach to regional security was based on an alliance system with bilateral security treaties between the US and key allies in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea . Japan was pulled indirectly to Cold War as a US’s supporter. Markedly, following to Korean war in 1953-1955, Korea was most effected by the Cold war. The main concerns of political, economic, military and ideological contest between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, intervened in the Korean War. The Soviet Union and China backed North Korea, while the United States accumulated an alliance under the performance of the United Nations (UN) to support the south. And, with both superpowers possessing nuclear weapons, outcome of the Korean War determined the United States to maintain large military forces to constrain communism. Therefore, without finding the compromising, Korea was divided into North and South, implementing each ideological legacies, communism and democratic capitalism, from the result of Cold war.

Second, the article only addresses on the ‘Cold tension’ between the superpowers but fail to look at the proxy states, which were having the conventional war, or hot war, inside its lands. With the prospect of nuclear annihilation, the Cold War was only fought in proxy form in peripheral nation, including Korea . The only considering superpowers was only operating with the policy and possibility, for themselves, to gain victory by tactics. Both US and USSR launched the Brinkmanship as a risk-taking policy in which during the cold war, the nuclear weapon was used as an escalating measure whether it would utilize the threat of a nuclear attack or not. On the US side, Truman Doctrine provide assistances on politics, economics and military to any nation resisting the threat of communism, while, on the USSR view, it supports the ally by supplying material needs. An attempt to prevent the spread of the Soviet Union's ideology also occurred along with the using of Containment policy in keeping communism spreading to other places. These are the way of collecting alliances between the two blocs, which the proxy states, then, were made to be a battlefield for a conventional war, or the supply lines as well as supporters for these two powers to prevent the massive retaliation between US and USSR that could end up with a use of nuclear weapons on a massive scale. Thus, Korea was proxied to Hot war.

Third, Nuclear weapon is still vastly relevant part that occurred from the Cold war and it is made to the endless arm race between and states until the 21st century. Cold war still continues. Started from launching bomb in Japan by the American, the nuclear weapons were recognized to operate arms race between USSR and USA, and other country. Nuclear weapons made states realize that it too needs to hold one for the stability and the security.

For China, its nuclear development started as the US claims to be its hostility and Russia became its unsure friend, so that, to hold on a strong position in the Asian region, Nuclear weapons are necessary. Meanwhile, when North Korea began to own the weapon of mass destruction, South Korea too needs to develop its nuclear program for not enabling the North to easily threaten. Several times, North Korea took an aggressive action in experiment of nuclear proliferation to fear other neighboring states. This creates the huge provocative threats not only to South Korea but also to Japan. This made Japan started to raise the concern for its nation to hold the nuclear weapons – the nuclearization in East Asia then take place. As such, the nuclear weapons are importantly built the serious tensions among countries, which continues the arm race and nuclear dominoes in East Asia.