With the visits this week of its top officials to Asia, the Americans have invoked the words of a twentieth-century statesman, Dean Acheson, whose reputation in Asia is rather lacking. Acheson spoke in 1950 of creating ‘situations of strength’ with reference to the Soviet Union. That country posed a direct threat to many nations, including the United States. Does China today pose such a threat to any nation beyond its immediate neighbourhood? Perhaps. But it looks less like the Soviet menace than an older challenge brought by a confident, truculent USA to other world powers at the turn of the twentieth century. From its own situation of strength, the British Empire resisted the urge back then to enlist a club of rivals against US power, and instead co-opted its erstwhile adversary with a significant investment of resources and diplomatic skill, starting in the Western Hemisphere. The result was a much stronger situation there and ultimately, throughout the world.
Comments
No posts