Asia Emerges: The Dawn of the Pacific Century

Asia Emerges: The Dawn of the Pacific Century

1970 – 1995: Despite wars and turmoil, Asia emerges as an economic power

Home to more than half the world’s population, Asia is a force to be reckoned with – both economically and politically. Pacific rim nations manufacture a great deal of the world’s consumer goods, and developing powerhouses like China and India are increasingly asserting their political will.

Yet, the legacy of backwardness remains. Chinese peasants still use oxen to sow the fields. The slums of Calcutta are still among the worst in the world. Primitive cultures are just a plane hop away from gleaming skyscrapers in some of Southeast Asia’s most modern cites. But dynamic changes are sweeping through the region.

If the 20th century was the American Century, it looks more and more likely that the next 100 years will be dominated by the nations of the Pacific rim. Here are some of the historical highlights marking 1970 – 95.

North, Central and East Asia

Cultural revolution, economic miracles, assassinations, and wars continue to rock this vast region.

1970 – the aftermath of the cultural revolution: Mao Zedong formed the Red guard in 1966 to campaign against “old ideas, old culture, old habits, and old customs.” More often than not, however, the Red Guard units, dominated by youths and students, amount to uncontrolled mobs. “Class enemies,” opponents of Mao’s social order, are brutalized. Mass trials and executions are reported throughout the country. College admittance is based on ideology and labor experience, not academic merit.

An Indian Lady. Photo by Elena.

Beginning in 1967, efforts are made to restore control. Schools, which had been closed to free students for agitation, are reopened. But the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was not so easily tamed. Only by about 1970 are Chinese authorities able to begin rebuilding the Communist party – and the country.

1971 – India wins a war against Pakistan and Bangladesh is born: For 25 years after gaining independence from Britain, Pakistan consists of two separate regions – East Pakistan and West Pakistan. They are united by a religion (Islam) but separated by culture and over 1,000 miles of Indian territory. The civil war changes that.

The fighting begins after the 1970 in which an East Pakistani party seeking autonomy won a majority. After riots and strikes i the East, West Pakistani troops move in. In the turmoil, an estimated 1 million Bengalis (East Pakistanis) are killed. Another 10 million or more flee to India. In part to stop the flow of refugees, India intervenes, siding with the Easterners and supporting the newly proclaimed state of Bangladesh. Before a cease-fire is declared in December, a full-scale war has broken out with fighting on both Eastern and Western fronts.

Early ’70s – Beginning of the Japanese Economic Miracle. By the end of the decade, Japanese exports (notably cars and electronic equipment) to the United States and other nations increase dramatically and Japan emerges as an economic superpower.

1972 – Nixon goes to China: After a secret visit to Beijing laying the groundwork by Secretary of State Henri Kissinger; President Richard Nixon meets with Chairman Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier, to discuss the resumption of normal diplomatic relations between the two superpowers. Zhoe dies in early 1976 and Mao nine months later. Inn January 1979, the two countries ratify a treaty that obligates the United States to cease arms sales to Taiwan.

1974 – India’s First Nuclear Explosion: India’s first successful nuclear explosion is condemned by the international community but popular at home. Government officials claim that the experiment is research for peaceful uses of nuclear explosives such as mining and earth moving, and assure critics that India has no plans for building nuclear weapons. In 1995, only five nations are recognized as possessing nuclear weapons – the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China. Three others – India, Pakistan, and Israel – are assumed to have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them but have not publicly said so.

1980 – China’s Gang of Four Goes on Trial: Chinese authorities hold trials of the Gang of Four, who were arrested following Mao’s death in 1976. Charges against them include persecuting officials, plotting to murder Mao, and trying to overthrow the government. The most famous of the group, Mao’s widow receives a suspended death sentence in 1983.

1984 – A Chemical Leak Kills Thousands in Bhopal, India: As many as 2,500 people die in Bhopal, an industrial city in central India, after a lethal gas used in pesticide production escapes from a manufacturing plant tank owned by a subsidiary of Union Carbide, an American company. The gas drifts over surrounding areas, killing people in their sleep. Many others suffer eye irritation and respiratory problems. Children, who are especially vulnerable to the chemical, make up a disproportionate number of those killed.

The same year, India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, is assassinated in New Delhi.

1989 – China Crushes the Democracy Movement: Chinese communist party leaders order a military crackdown on a student-led democracy movement that has been growing for two years. After 1 million or more students defy a ban on demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, authorities massacre hundreds of unarmed protesters. World opinion criticizes the move, which comes just as East European communist governments are giving way to democratic forces. The event makes a new wave of political repression in China.

Asia is a continent of extremes. It includes the world’s most populous nation (China) and some of the wealthiest countries in the world (Japan and the oil rich Arab Gulf states). In Cambodia, however, per capita GDP is a mere $800 and life expectancy less than 50 years.

Many Asian countries are flirting with democracy, but heavy-handed governments are the norm.. Many countries of Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union lack political and social stability. The most-spoken single language is Chines, with more than a billion and a half speakers of its many dialects. Asia and the Middle East have given birth to all of the world’s major religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Judaism.

Northern and Central Asia

    Largest Lake – Aral Sea, 66,500 square miles.

    Longest River – Chiang Jiang (Yangtze), China, 3,965 miles.

    Highest Point – Mount Everest, Nepal, Tibet, 29,108 feet.

    Lowest Point – Turpan Ha’a, China, 505 feet below sea level.

    Largest City – Tokyo, Japan, 9 million pop