Britain and the Postwar Rapprochement of Malaya and Japan, 1945-61
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概要
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This paper examines how and why the rapprochement of Malaya and Japan after WWII occurred relatively swiftly, despite the legacies of Japan's wartime occupation. The rapprochement began in trade, and developed through Japanese participation in Malayan iron mining and Japan's accession to international organizations such as ECAFE, Colombo Plan and the GATT. It eventually reached the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations following Malayan decolonization. Most of the existing literature on postwar Japan's relations with South-East Asia focuses on the American cold war strategy to keep Japan anti-communist. By looking at Malaya that had been under the British imperial control until the end of the 1950s, this paper attempts to shed a new light on the role of Britain and her Asian policy in facilitating the Japanese return to South-East Asia.Though having helped the early resumption of Malayo-Japanese trade, the British, especially the Board of Trade officials and Lancashire industrialists, came to oppose the rapprochement in almost every form, out of fear of Japanese competition in their South-East Asian stronghold. However, by the autumn of 1954, their opposition was gradually overcome by recognition that Britain was unable to assist Malayan development entirely on its own, with her tight manpower and finances stretched worldwide. The British authorities also recognised the urgency of Malayan development as a part of their programme of smooth decolonization which would preserve as much British influence as possible. Here, the British officials in Malaya and Japan played an important role in persuading their metropolitan colleagues to admit Japan's participation in Malayan development to shoulder British imperial obligations.Meanwhile, Japanese premiers such as Yoshida Shigeru and Kishi Nobusuke saw closer relations with Malaya as one means of breaking free from the deference to the United States in economic reconstruction and regional foreign policies which dated from the Allied Occupation. They also wanted Japan to be welcomed back to international society by the Asians without being seen as an American pawn. They thus embarked on a new South-East Asian policy in closer cooperation with Britain.The Malayan leaders, gaining authority as decolonization proceeded, saw Japan as a new Asian partner and model in their efforts to secure complete independence from Britain. Especially, the Federation of Malaya's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and Kishi played important roles in completing bilateral diplomatic rapprochement by 1961. However, not all outstanding issues between Malaya and Japan were settled in the rapprochement process as the so-called 'blood debt' issue arising from Japan's wartime occupation reveals thereafter. The continuity in prewar and, postwar Japanese involvement in Malaya in terms of personnel and their interests also seemed to leave Malayans suspicious about Japanese intentions.
- 一般財団法人 日本国際政治学会の論文
一般財団法人 日本国際政治学会 | 論文
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