Resumen de Nationalism In Northeast Asia Since 1945
An examination of primarily Chinese and Japanese nationalism (with a brief mention of Korea), this chapter will argue that contradictions within nationalist discourse lead to stronger and more strident articulations in the postwar era. The chapter covers the importance of nationalism to Maoist anti-imperialism, the struggle over national legitimacy between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists, the extreme difficulty of contending with minority politics in China, the Japanese ‘peace movement,’ Japan’s mercurial strategic relationship with the United States, and the phenomenon of ‘growth nationalism’ in postwar East Asia, with a final note on the similarities between nations in the region. Although the divisions between the two Koreas and the Taiwan straits continue to produce stronger nationalisms in China and Korea, the chapter finishes by suggesting that the eventual end of the US-Japan Security Treaty may produce similar rifts in Japanese society.
