Introduction: the new global politics of the Asia-Pacific

The seductiveness of this answer fails to capture the complexity, uncertainty and instability of the Cold War era in the AsiaPacific region. In 1949, none could have predicted the endurance of the Beijing and Taipei regimes, the Sino-Soviet split, or America’s ignominious withdrawal from Vietnam. Equally, few could have anticipated the rapid marketization of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) economy after 1979, the extraordinary growth of the East Asian newly industrializing countries (NICs), or the equally extraordinary collapse of many of them in 1997-98.