HH3045 COLD WAR IN ASIA: TRANSNATIONAL & MICRO APPROACHES

This module explores the history of the Cold War in Asia, using a micro and transnational approach. Before the 2000s, most historical research on the Cold War was either American-centric or Euro-centric. The non-Western world, in particular East Asia, a `fault-line region' (Major and Mitter), was under-studied. The history of the Cold War therefore was asymmetrical. The end of the Cold War and the subsequent opening of archives in former colonies enable the reconstruction of Cold War history in East and Southeast Asia in a broad historical context connecting them with China, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union (now Russia). Adopting a micro and transnational approach, this course uses Hong Kong, a `Cold War pivot' as a starting point to trace how ideas were disseminated transborder and how big powers' activities in the colony affected how the Cold War was unfolded in countries in East and Southeast Asia. Ever since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Hong Kong, a British colony, was a battleground for competing ideologies: communism and capitalism. Hong Kong was relatively liberal as a colony. Economically, the principle of `laissez-faire' was adopted by the colonial regime. Politically, despite the absence of democracy, the colonial government introduced the City District Officer Scheme to solicit public opinion. Socially, the state propagated the idea of freedom of speech, press, assembly and religion. As an alien administration that ruled over two million Chinese residents in the post-war period, the colonial government constantly faced a problem of legitimacy and was susceptible to Communist infiltration. The Chinese Communist Party participated in Hong Kong life and used its base in the territory to encourage the uptake of radical ideas throughout Asia. In addition, the United States Information Services and the Nationalists disseminated propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia using its representative and secret operatives in Hong Kong. Hong Kong also played important role during conflicts. For example, through Hong Kong, strategic goods were shipped to Korea during the Korean War despite the trade embargo. And it was also a shelter for Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War. In theory, under British liberal legal traditions, the administration sought to create a permissive environment for social movements to propagate ideas that were critical of colonialism and capitalism. In practice, the colonial state monitored radicalism closely and repressed it using all possible means. The approach adopted by the colonial government in handling these Cold War activities influenced how the Cold War was unfolded in Asia, in particular Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaya and Singapore. Through this course, not only comparisons can be drawn between Cold War activities in different territories and countries, students can also learn about the transnational network: how ideas, ruling strategies and technologies flowed and exchanged transnationally and people moved across the borders. Both high diplomacy and cultural activities will be explored. Students can identify similarities and differences in Cold War experiences between the East and the West, setting up a transnational comparative framework for further studies.