ABSTRACT
One of the most striking developments of the Cold War international order was the reconstruction and integration of Japan into an Americanled orbit. Another critical feature of postwar Asia was the phenomenally rapid economic growth that began to take place in the 1960s in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. More and more historians have been showing that the origins of the American embroglio in Vietnam, itself part of the Cold War, were inspired by the effort of US officials to safeguard the resources and markets of Southeast Asia which were thought to be essential for the Japanese economy. The implementation of containment in Indochina also reflected Washington’s desire to buy time so that the burgeoning economies in the region could be integrated in the Japanese semi-periphery and the American-led free world.
