AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT RELATED TO COMMON PROBLEMS OF CHINA,
JAPAN AND NORTH KOREA

This paper identifies some common issues that East Asian countries are struggling to deal with and how they are unique in some aspects and similar in others to problems that Western nations face. This paper focuses on the countries of China, Japan and North Korea and look primarily at the issues that arise from these nations’ struggle to shape their national identity on the world stage as well as how these nations are dealing with the ever increasing force of globalization. This paper also looks at the role that the United States plays in shaping or dealing with these issues, as well as how an American citizen might play a role in perpetuating or resolving these dilemmas. Through this work it should be made more clear what problems East
Asian nations share and reveal that they must deal with them in a way that is both uniquely domestic but also influenced by factors that arise from the United States and other International actors. Common Problems in China, Japan and North Korea and American Involvement
There are two major dilemmas that are addressed in this paper that are shared by these three nations. The first can be identified as an issue of International Sovereignty where these countries all have a vested interest in exerting their will in the international arena but all have limited ways of making this happen. Associated with the issue of establishing their sovereignty comes the issues of how they address National defense, relations with foreign nations and their influence with international organizations such as the United Nations. Additionally, these nations all have different ways of dealing with problems that occur within their borders. These

internal problems include the issue with ethnic minorities, civil rights, and the preservation of their national identity in the face globalization and modernization. This segment of the paper will look at each country individually and analyze the common nations these countries face and their particular responses while keeping in mind the influence that the United States and other
Western powers have in these problems. International Sovereignty ­ China
China is a nation that has been on the rise for the last couple decades and is on track to become one of the most powerful players on the world stage within the next decade. They are investing heavily into their military with spending nearly quadrupling in the last decade and they are already economically dominate in the region, with the exception of Japan and to a lesser degree South Korea, and thus are posed to play a significant role in the future of the entire Asian region (Pike 1). The Chinese government not yet used its military power to exert its influence in any significant way outside of the debatable “civil” conflicts in Taiwan. Primarily, China exerts its power using soft power through the use of economics through both trade agreements (ASEAN
­ China Free Trade Area) and direct foreign investment and aid. China is particularly active in foreign investment and aid in developing nations, some which are close to China such as
Myanmar or Afghanistan, but also they count for 82% of foreign investment in Zimbabwe, 70% in Sierra Leone, and a similar amount in a number of other African and South American nations.
(Aisch 1) Investment makes sense for China, because it helps to preserve the stability of nations that could possibly become unstable and dangerous but it also strengthens relations between these nations and opens the doors to future symbiotic cooperation.

The United States has long relied upon China as a stable and cheap trade partner which has helped the American economy as much as it has strengthened the Chinese economy.
However, as a country with significant economic and military power the United States is in a position where they must fear one of their strongest allies and thus this could create some conflict between these two nations. As the reputation of the United States continues to wane throughout the world it’s soft power is also put into jeopardy which is an important power to have in the increasingly liberalized world where interconnected economies make trade agreements more important that military alliances in order to establish security. These tensions can be seen in the sparking of conflicts regarding “cyber warfare” where Chinese hackers have allegedly hacked into US Government and Business websites in order to steal information or assets (Brownlee 2). While the government can not exactly track down who has been stealing information, they strongly believe that it is a group acting out of China such as the group “Iron
Tiger” that the US Government believes is responsible.
Despite the United States distrust of China, the two nations are still bound together through economic ties that will likely supercede any political disagreements. Additionally,
China is able to act fairly effectively in the world arena because they are a regional hegemon throughout mainland East Asia as well as a permanent member of the United Nations Security
Council. They are relatively secure when it comes to acting internationally, however as they continue to build and improve relations with foreign nations they still have to consider the relationship that the United States has with nations because favoring a nation that the United
States is at odds with could deteriorate China­US relations, or vice versa.

International Sovereignty ­ Japan
Japan’s relationship with the rest of the world is very closely related to the United States.
The most notable role that the United States plays in Japanese foreign relations is engraved into the Japanese Constitution that was drafted by the United States after Japan’s surrender in World
War II. In the Constitution, Japan lost the ability to have a standing army and thus relies on the
Special Defense Force to protect itself domestically. Because of this, we see issues such as the conflict over the Sengoku Isles become major points of contention in East Asia where Japan seeks to defend what land it has in order to maintain the control over as much land and water it can, since these areas are valuable for trade routes and natural resources.
The availability of a standing army serves as a domestic issue within the country as well even though its implications can extend internationally. Those seeking a more independent
Japan such as the current Prime Minister Abe have been pushing to repeal this restriction, however large groups of Japanese people do not think that Japan needs to be a military active power when they already have the supposed protection of the United States, and feel that if Japan was to be a more militaristic power they could jeopardize the economic relationships that they currently have. (Sim 2) Furthermore, many Japanese are still feel and remember the disastrous repercussions of World War II where the United States destroyed cities with fire bombings and ended the conflict with two nuclear bombs. International Sovereignty ­ North Korea
North Korea’s position of isolationism from the rest of the world and self sufficiency makes it an interesting if not dangerous player in the world stage. They are heavily dependant on

trade and financial support from China in order to continue as a nation, however this also means that their existence as a nation is largely dependant on China’s desire to keep them afloat so they don’t have to deal with the geopolitical implications of having a failed state as a neighbor. They also have strained relations with their other neighbors, largely due to the presence of nuclear weapons that they claim to possess and due to their nuclear testing in the region.
The United States played a significant role in the shaping of the current state of North
Korea, for the failure of the Korean War resulted in the division of the country where the two nations of South and North Korea continue to exist in a state of tension. The United States continues to keep troops stationed in South Korea and continues to exist as an ideological adversary for North Koreans. For example, in June of this year North Korea held a rally in
Pyongyang to celebrate “Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month” (Ri 1). North Korean leaders are able to centralize the population around a common cause of resisting American
Imperialism, and even though the United States might not want any relations with North Korea, the perceived notion that they do is all that is required. Domestic Problems ­ China
Being such a massive country, China struggles with the issue of how to unify all of its people under a Communist government system. So far they have been very successful at promoting a “harmonious society”, where there is an emphasis put on Confucian values to not disrupt the hierarchy of the government system. However, there are still minorities groups, such as the Uighurs, LGBT groups and other underrepresented peoples, that are not satisfied with that status quo. To preserve order in the state, the Chinese government has cracked down on these

groups using military force. As self­proclaimed champions of human rights, the United States often calls China out for its censorship and heavy handed policies, however China references the
United States as justification for its policies. Since the Uighur minority are Muslims, China has taken up the banner of the “War on Terrorism” to justify their civil rights abuses in the name of curbing radical Islam (Davis 4). Whether China’s efforts will prove counter­productive or not has yet to be seen.
Related to the Ethnic minorities such as the Uighurs, China also has had to deal with the spread of many religions within its country. The stance of the CCP has been to make the state officially Atheistic and to allow a select few number of religions that they can heavily monitor.
Religion poses a problem in China, because it provides an influence that has higher authority than the CCP which could weaken their hold over the people. For example, Christianity is allowed in the nation but only under the tight control of the CCP, where they have picked a separate archbishop than the Vatican had chosen. The CCP has also taken the approach of sending large numbers of Han Chinese into the region to reduce the percentage of the population who are Muslim and thus reduce their relative voice. While this approach might be effective in the short run, the traditions and culture of the Uighur are deeply ingrained in the region. The
USSR attempted to bring Latvia and Lithuania and Estonia more in line with their ideas by promoting Russian culture and language over the local customs and traditions much like China has here, however the indigenous populations have exhibited a tendency to push back more against the central power the more their customs and culture are in jeopardy.

Domestic Problems ­ Japan
The primary domestic issue that Japan has been grappling with over the last century has been dealing with the pervasive influence of Western popular culture. In the last couple decades,
Western styles and foods had been a craze in Japan with McDonald's being a place that was seen as fashionable to go out to eat to. Western movies and fashion trends have made their way into the Japanese fashion scene, particularly in the more metropolitan areas such as Tokyo. The problem with the introduction of Western ideas and culture is that it poses a threat to the existing culture and values. We have seen American involvement in the area since the late 17th century, where America forcibly opened Japan to the rest of the world and has since played an important role in the modernization and, following the end of WWII, the industrialization and development of Japan. While the United States might assert that their interest in Japan is only political or economic, there is undoubtedly a close cultural connection between the two countries due to their close involvement with each other.
Japan has been seen as one of the more resilient nations to the Western cultural imperialism and it largely has to do with Japan’s ability to modernize while still retaining cultural values. This is likely due to Japan’s long history of isolationism from the rest of the world and the long established traditions that had developed in this time, such as the religion of
Shintoism which is less a religion and more a collection of cultures and customs. While some more local traditions may be jeopardized by Japan’s modernization and urbanization, the ability for Japanese people to take modern innovation and improve upon it and develop it in a uniquely
Japanese way has allowed them to make their imprint on the forces of globalization.
Furthermore, while Japan receives a good deal of media entertainment from the United States,

the United States as well as many other countries in the world are consumers of Japanese entertainment from anime and manga to Japanese game shows. Domestic Problems ­ North Korea
The problems in North Korea are difficult to identify due to the large amount of misinformation and propaganda put out by the North Korean government. In North Korea there is a hard line drawn in the distinction between Modernization and Westernization. While most
Asian countries have been able to modernize while dealing with the forces of Westernization, the
North Korean leadership has been adamantly opposed to adopting any custom or practice that might be associated with the “enemy” or the “Capitalists”. This is largely a power play by the
Kims to unite the population under a common enemy and provide a scapegoat for the problems that afflict the country such as famine. Much of this animosity toward the United States is not completely unfounded, since they play a role in perpetuating the conflict by maintaining a presence in South Korea.
In the United States, we view North Korea as a backwards nation with a totalitarian dictator who hate us and thus see very little reason to care about the well being of the nation.
This stance is not necessarily the best to take, because it promotes China as the only actor providing the North Korean state with stability and from creating a major crisis in the region. If
North Korea were to ever become a completely failed state, there would be a huge refugee crisis in the region and it would be nearly impossible for the United States to not become involved in the fallout due to our allegiance with South Korea and our interest in stability in the region. As such, America would likely be better suited to putting its prejudices aside and have a more

vested interest in improving their image in the region in order to possibly be able to play a more significant role in ensuring stability in the region. My Personal Involvement in these Challenges
In this segment of the paper it will be analyzed how I, as an American citizen, currently play a role in the perpetuation of the challenges that these countries face and offer some possible solutions as to how I could work to improve them. When expressing my actions, I am really speaking of how the average Western citizen acts in relation to these issues and how we as a society could act more appropriately. It is important to note that many of these issues need to be dealt with domestically and Western interference in trying to solve foreign issues is often a mistake. That is not to say that the United States as a nation should do nothing to deal with these problems for they can have a significant influence on reducing the barriers to enacting change. My Involvement: China
The first thing that American citizens should do is avoid any of the government or media propaganda that paints China in an ominous light. It is dangerous when there is a significant public will against another country, as we saw in the Middle East following 9/11 where the
United States was easily able to muster the public will to enter and destabilize the entire region, while at the same time conveniently creating a military presence in a major area for oil production. If the public were to gain a similar fear of China as we had of the Middle East post
9/11, it might be possible for the government and military to over react once again which could lead to disastrous repercussions for both nations both socially and economically.

Another way an American citizen could put pressure on China to enact change would be muster the will for the government to put pressure on the Chinese government to improve its civil rights record. The US Government should not attempt to tell the Chinese people how to govern their nation, however if they were able to convince the CCP to allow the Chinese people, particularly minority groups, a safe forum to air their grievances and suggest solutions then they would be able to find uniquely Chinese solutions to Chinese problems. Forcing Western ideological solutions on a country steeped in Confucian traditions would likely be fruitless and only cause more issues. My Involvement: Japan
From our class discussions about modern controversies in Japan, the most prominent issue that arose is that as Americans we have a very Westernized view on certain international issues and feel that our view is the only way that a problem can be dealt with. We see this perspective through the movie we watched about dolphin hunting in Japan, which focused on a team of Westerners depicting dolphin hunting as a grotesque activity that was almost inherently evil. The Japanese resent this viewpoint, and forward that dolphin hunting is a cultural tradition and is also ingrained into the local economy. Without appreciating Japanese tradition, condemnation of practices can easily be seen as an act of Western cultural imperialism.
American citizens need to understand controversies from the perspective of the local communities and then appeal to more universal truths and facts such as the problems with mercury poisoning or overfishing, rather than merely condemning the practice outright.

Adversely, it is important to not sensationalize Japan and its culture. From checking perceptions of Japan at the beginning of the class, a number of students had the opinion that
Japan was in some way mysterious or “Oriental”, which is a dangerous view point. While it is true that Japanese customs, traditions and history can be very interesting, it should be viewed critically and not overly admired. Not only does sensationalization of a culture cripple one's ability to understand it in any depth, it also can foster resentment of the Japanese people who feel they are being stereotyped or generalized. As an American citizen it is important to not feed into the system of viewed East Asia as an “Oriental” and mysterious nations and better understand the intricacies that make the country what it is. My Involvement: North Korea
The main problem we face when viewing North Korea is the overwhelming amount of misinformation and propaganda put forth by both North Korea and the United States. The Kim
Dynasty relies upon the instability in the region and the conflict with South Korea and the United
States to justify their hold on power and retain their reign. Paying lip service to every action by the North Korean military, which currently doesn’t pose a very significant threat to any of the surrounding nations, only serves to monger fear and create public sentiment of fear and hatred for North Korea. Improving public perception of North Korea would allow for more political will to maybe indirectly invest in the country and attempt to improve North Korean sentiment towards America through aid or education. Due to the Anti­American sentiments of the North
Korean regime, it is unlikely that this would happen but it is one possible path towards easing the tensions in the Korean peninsula.

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