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FRUSTRATED ALIGNMENT: THE PACIFIC PACT PROPOSALS FROM 1949 TO 1954 AND SOUTH KOREA–TAIWAN RELATIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2015

Junghyun Park
Junghyun Park*
Affiliation:
Asian Research Institute, Korea University E-mail jhpiao@korea.ac.kr
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Abstract

This research deals with South Korea–Taiwan relations from 1949, when the concept of a “Pacific Pact” was first introduced, to 1954, when the Asian People's Anti-Communist League (APACL) was formed. Thus far, studies on the regional order of East Asia during the early Cold War period have focused on U.S. policies toward East Asia and U.S. relations with individual East Asian states. In contrast, this present work examines the multilateral nature of the international relations in the region at the time. The extended cooperation, conflict, and competition between South Korea (ROK) and Taiwan (ROC) over the Pacific Pact from 1949 to 1954 vividly show how actively the two nations attempted to engage in the international arena to ensure their own security. Certainly, the primary purpose of this pact was not to form an autonomous regional alliance independent of the United States. In post-World War II Asia, the United States sought to reorganize a new regional order in Asia, with Japan at the center of this proposed order. Under these circumstances, Taiwan and South Korea, standing at the front line of the Cold War, were desperate to attract the U.S.'s attention. Once the two new nations had secured U.S. military and economic aid, however, they no longer pursued their former aggressive and expansive diplomatic strategies. After the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, signed on December 2, 1954, Taiwan discarded the Pacific Pact as an offensive and defensive treaty and concentrated on the APACL. South Korea, for its part, did not further pursue the Pacific Pact after the ROK–U.S. Mutual Defense Agreement was concluded on October 1, 1953.

South Korea and Taiwan maintained an exceptionally close relationship even after signing individual treaties with the United States. At times, the two nations competed to play a leading role in the international relations of Asia. Yet, their differences of opinion did not cross the line of cooperation between the two countries until the collapse of the Soviet Union brought an end to the Cold War system: South Korea then normalized relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1992.

Keywords

South KoreaTaiwanCold Warthe Pacific PactSouth Korea–Taiwan relations
Type
Law, State and Society in China [9]
Information
International Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , July 2015 , pp. 217 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

REFERENCES

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Gongbochu jubo (Weekly Bulletin) 公報處週報. no. 158. May 18, 1955. The Ministry of Information, 1955.Google Scholar
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Zhongyang Ribao 中央日報. 1953.Google Scholar
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Collection of President Rhee Syngman's Statements 大統領李承晩博士談話集. The Ministry of Information, 1953.Google Scholar
FRUS 1949 Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). 1949 (vol. 7, part 2).Google Scholar
FRUS 1950 Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). 1950 (vol. 7, part 2).Google Scholar
JOINT WEEKA (Intelligence Report of the Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Korea). 1953; photographic edition: Yŏngjinmunhwasa, 1993.Google Scholar
“Hankuk Kwa Chunghwaminkuk ui Dongmaeng Chegyul e kwanhan Gyuleuan (Union Concerning the Resolution between South Korea and the Republic of China).” Proceedings for 6th session of the 16th plenary session of the Second National Assembly. June 11, 1953. available at http://likms.assembly.go.kr/record/index.html.Google Scholar
Taiwan Diplomatic Documents 外交部檔案資料 11, in Archives of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.Google Scholar
Chosun Ilbo. 1949–1953.Google Scholar
The Christian Science Monitor. 1953.Google Scholar
Dong-a Ilbo. 1949–1953.Google Scholar
Gongbochu jubo (Weekly Bulletin) 公報處週報. no. 158. May 18, 1955. The Ministry of Information, 1955.Google Scholar
Kyunghyang Shinmun. 1949.Google Scholar
Zhongyang Ribao 中央日報. 1953.Google Scholar
Bix 1974 Bix, Herbert P. “Regional Integration: Japan and South Korea in America's Asian Policy.” In Without Parallel: The American-Korean Relationship since 1945, ed. Baldwin, Frank, pp. 179–232. New York: Pantheon Books, 1974.Google Scholar
Chang 2011 Chang, Su-Ya. Did Korea Go to War to Rescue Taiwan? Taiwan: Acropolis Publishing, 2011.Google Scholar
Cho 2008 Cho, Muhyung. “The Establishment and Decline of APACL—Conceptualizing ROK–US Conflict Based on Role Theory.” Journal of World Politics 29:2 (2008), pp. 187–246.Google Scholar
Choi 1999 Choi, Youngho. “The Syngman Rhee Regime's Ideas of Pacific Alliance and the Asian People Anti-Communist League's Birth.” Korean Journal of International Relations 39:2 (1999), pp. 165–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cumings 1987 Cumings, Bruce. “The Origins and Development of the Northeast Asian Political Economy: Industrial Sectors, Product Cycles, and Political Consequences.” In The Political Economy of New Asian Industrialism, ed. Deyo, Frederic C. pp. 44–83. New York: Cornell University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Guoshiguan bian 2000 Guoshiguan Zhonghua minguo shi waijiaozhi bianzuan weiyuanhui bian 國史館中華民國史外交志編纂委員會編. Zhonghua minguo waijiaozhi 中華民國外交志. Taibei: Sanmin shuju, 2000.Google Scholar
Handel 1981 Handel, Michael. Weak States in the International System. London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1981.Google Scholar
Kim 1990 Kim, Jeong-Bae. “The Nature of the ‘Pacific Union’ Discussions in the Light of American Global Strategy.” MA thesis, Pusan National University, 1990.Google Scholar
Lee 1996 Lee, Chongwon. U.S.–Korean Relations and Japan in East Asia's Cold War. Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Lee 1986 Lee, Hojae. Hanguk Oegyo Jungchaek ui Yisang kwa Hyunsil: Haebang palnyun Minjok galdeunggi ui Bansung. Seoul: Bupmunsa, 1986.Google Scholar
Limb 1951 Limb, Ben C. “The Pacific Pact: Looking Forward or Backward?” Foreign Affairs 29:4 (1951), pp. 539–49.Google Scholar
Mabon 1988 Mabon, David W. “Elusive Agreements: The Pacific Pact Proposals of 1949–1951.” Pacific Historical Review 57:2 (1988), pp. 147–77.Google Scholar
Matsuda 2003 Matsuda, Haruka. “‘Pacific Pact’ and ‘The Asian People Anti-Communist League’: American Reactions to the Proposals of the Two Security Pacts by ‘Outpost Countries’ in East Asia.” Pacific and American Studies 5 (2003), pp. 135–52.Google Scholar
Oliver 1978 Oliver, Robert T.Syngman Rhee and American Involvement in Korea, 1942–1960: A Personal Narrative. Seoul: Panmun Book Company Ltd., 1978.Google Scholar
Park 2006 Park, Jin-Hee. “Syngman Rhee's Recognition toward Japan and Pacific Pact.” Historical Criticism 76 (2006), pp. 90–118.Google Scholar
Rho 2002 Rho, Kiyoung. “The Development of Pacific Pact Policy and the Plan of Regional Security in the Syngman Rhee Regime.” The Journal of Korean History (Chiyuk Kwa Yuksa) 11 (2002), pp. 186–223.Google Scholar
Shao 1980 Shao, Yu-Lin 邵毓麟. Shi Han huiyilu: jindai Zhong Han guanxi shihua 使韓回憶錄：近代中韓關係史話 (My Mission to Korea: A Personal Record of Modern Sino-Korean Relations). Taipei: Zhuanji Wenxue Chubanshe (Biographical Literature Press), 1980.Google Scholar
Tasai 2006 Tasai, Norihiko. “A Conflict between ‘Pro-China Group’ and ‘Pro-Taiwan Group’ in the Liberal Democratic Party: Its Factors and Situations under the Cold War.” Yokohama College of Commerce 39:2 (2006), pp. 49–87.Google Scholar