By Zachary Keck
It is often argued that weaker Asian nations like those of ASEAN would be the most negatively impacted by a U.S.-China Cold War, as Washington and Beijing would force them to take sides. As evidence of this, proponents point to the U.S.-Soviet Cold War when the superpowers supposedly divided the world up into opposing spheres of influence.
But this is a misinterpretation of the Cold War, and its further misapplication to the contemporary Asia-Pacific. In fact, smaller Asian countries would be the primary benefactors of a more acute U.S.-China strategic rivalry.
With the exception of the countries that were occupied at the end of WWII, the superpowers did not force other nations to choose sides. If anything, the opposite was often true.
NATO is a case in point. Although it’s difficult to recall these days, at the end of WWII the U.S. still had a strong isolationist current among the American people and some elite circles. Consequently, building domestic support for the economic-driven Marshall Plan was difficult, even though the U.S. had always maintained robust trading relations with Western Europe. Ratifying the NATO treaty was even more contentious.
Read the full story at The Diplomat