ABSTRACT
The Cold War emerged from the ashes of World War II.1 This new global order was based on military, economic, ideological, and cultural competition between the two remaining superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. While not always pervasive or obvious in local or national histories, the Cold War impacted the world on many levels, not just that of inter-state relations. Cold War exigencies also significantly shaped non-state peoples such as Indigenous peoples.2 By looking at Indigenous peoples’ history through a Cold War lens, we can better understand the history and the contemporary situations of Indigenous peoples and add a new dimension for understanding the last sixty years of the San Francisco System (SFS). This chapter addresses two themes that historically connect the SFS to Indigenous peoples, both of which relate to the United States’ Cold War policies of containment and integration, exemplified in the ambiguity of Japan’s disposition of several territories as outlined in the treaty.3 The first looks at how the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT) contributed to post-war US consolidation of Indigenous lands in the Asia-Pacific for military use. Briefly exploring examples from the Marshall Islands and Okinawa highlights how US militarization, embodied in policies of containment and integration, fostered the politicization and growth of Indigenous identities.4 The second highlights the relationship between the SFPT, development programs, border solidification, and historical experiences from the Ainu and Taiwanese Aborigines. In both of these cases, Japan’s territorial dispositions in the emerging Cold War contributed to fasttrack development programs to help maintain, negotiate, and solidify state borders. This in turn influenced post-war national government and Indigenous identity rebranding in both Taiwan and Japan.
