The strategic role of the United States of America in South East Asia since 1975

Abstract

One of the constant features of the United States foreign policy is the maintenance of an international environment in which the United States can survive and prosper. This is based on an economic-strategic nexus. This has been emphasised since the time of the Truman administration after the second World War. For instance Truman stated during the height of the Korean War and other communist rebellions in the Southeast Asian region that the loss of any one of those countries would mean the loss of freedom for millions of people, the loss of vital raw materials,and the loss of points of critical strategic importance to the free world. This perception was crystallised into the containment policy to halt the spread of communism. This policy was also emphasised in the Southeast Asian region. However with the achievement of detente with China and the Soviet Union in 1972, the containment policy transformed to maintenance of a balance of power policy in the region.