INTERVIEW/ Tessa Morris-Suzuki: Juggling events puts historical issues in perspective

The following are excerpts from an interview with Tessa Morris-Suzuki, professor at the Australian National University, about the 10 biggest incidents in East Asia's modern and contemporary history. This interview is part of a series to complement the "Impact of History--150 Years in East Asia."

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I chose the following incidents:

1. The Opium Wars

2. The "First Korean War" (1894-1905)

3. "The East Asian Revolution" (1917-1919)

4. The Manchurian Incident

5. The 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

6. The "occupation" of Northeast Asia (1945-1972?)

7. The Chinese "Revolution" (1927-1949)

8. The "Second Korean War" (1950-1953)

9. Changes in Northeast Asian power balance: Sino-Soviet Conflict, Japan-U.S. "Collusion" (1959-1960)

10. China's economic miracle (1980-)

I suggest that the structure of East Asian history be examined on three levels. One level has to do with relations among relatively big powers, namely, Japan, China and South Korea. Another level pertains to the relations between these big powers and the smaller countries or territories around them, such as the Ryukyu islands, Taiwan and Ainu Mosir (centered on present-day Hokkaido). And thirdly, relations between East Asia and the Great Powers of Europe.

The Opium War was a historic turning point that brought about the collapse of the Chinese world order and its transformation into a modern power. Nation-states did not exist under the Sino-centric order. Around China, there were the Ryukyuans, Manchurians and Ainus leading basically independent lives.

The Sino-centric order collapsed before the Great Powers of Europe. China, Japan and Korea became nation-states, and absorbed lesser nations. To understand this process, I bundled the First and Second Opium Wars together on my list.

If you also bundle the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War together and consider them as the "First Korean War," you begin to see things you didn't see before. These were "Northeast Asian wars" that broke out on the Korean Peninsula.

From the 19th century, East Asian geopolitical issues had always to do with how Japan and China could maintain their balance with the Great Powers. And it was what happened on the Korean Peninsula, which lay between Japan and China, that determined the Sino-Japanese relationship as well as the structure of the entire region. Actually, you could also say that the present situation is no different. North Korea holds the key to the future of Japan's relations with China.

By the "East Asian Revolution" which I put third on my list, I mean that the Russian Revolution and the Treaty of Versailles affected East Asia. What emerged as a result was a new brand of nationalism against colonialism. Two perfect examples were the March 1 Movement in Korea and the May 4 Movement in China. In Japan, there were the Rice Riots that erupted against the backdrop of socialism and communism gaining influence. Individually, these movements or incidents were relatively minor. But they had tremendous influence on the philosophy and politics in all of East Asia.

I think of the Manchurian Incident as the most decisive act of war. Once the Manchurian Incident had occurred, it became extremely difficult to avert the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Asia-Pacific War.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be seen as the start of the Cold War, rather than what ended the Asia-Pacific War. They were incidents of extreme significance to the 20th century world.

The post-World War II era can be better understood if you look at Northeast Asia in its entirety, rather than just focusing on the Allied occupation of Japan. If you focus only on occupied Japan, your attention is immediately drawn to the aspects of Japan's democratization, and you overlook the oppression in Okinawa and South Korea. On my list, I dated the post-World War II era to be between 1945 and the reversion of Okinawa in 1972, but there are still many U.S. bases in Japan.

I interpreted the "Chinese Revolution" as a two-decade process. In terms of world history, it was one huge social experiment of sorts. Tremendous sacrifices were made, but economic equality was temporarily realized in China. Ironically, though, the development of Chinese capitalism was founded on that economic equality.

The regional impact of the "Second Korean War" is not yet fully known. There must have been effects that went beyond the wartime special demand that buoyed the Japanese economy.

A major turning point occurred between 1959 and 1960. There were moves in Japan to seek "independence" from the United States, but Japan backpedaled and revised the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, deepening its rift with China. Meantime, China parted company with the Soviet Union and became the world's third largest power to fundamentally change Asia's structure.

Looking at the situation today, I would say China's growth into an economic superpower is a matter of great significance. Also significant is how Japan will deal with this on the levels of culture and consciousness.

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Tessa Morris-Suzuki, a professor at the Australian National University, has researched modern Japanese history from broad perspectives, including those of the Ainu people and ethnic Koreans living in Japan.(IHT/Asahi: April 21,2008)