The Triangle Of International Relations In Asia

19 Pages 4761 Words

ence we may presume that it is not novel or unknown to apply the concept of strategic geometry to Asia and as I shall illustrate it will prove particularly useful in understanding the transition from the Cold War to the post Cold War era.
Let us begin with a simpler model of strategic geometry which existed in Europe during the Cold War. From 1948 onwards, a more or less clear-cut line divided Europe into two main political and military blocs: the communist bloc and the free world of Western Europe, resulting in an almost perfect bipolarity. However, the politics in Asia during the same period were more dynamic and nuanced than just the simple East-West divide of Europe. Here, there was none of "the sharp structural clarity of Europe," no drawing of a line, no Iron Curtain; rather, there existed a more complex web of international relations, because of the physical presence of three great powers: the Soviet Union, China and Japan. And from 1945 onwards, another great power, the United States, took up a permanent political and military residen...