International Relations of Asia: A Brief Overview

This article provides a brief overview of the diverse socio-political phases of Asia and its international relations. It discusses the impact of western colonial powers, the communist block, and the emergence of powerful countries like India and China. The article also highlights the current power blocks and small independent countries in Asia.

Running head: DISCOVERING ASIA
DISCOVERING ASIA
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Topic: International Relations of Asia
Newspaper Chosen: Roughneen, S. (2018). Southeast Asian nations watching China-U.S.
trade tiff warily, but reluctant to speak out. latimes.com. Retrieved 28 April 2018, from
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-singapore-asean-20180427-story.html
Introduction
Asia is one of the most diverse continents which has gone through a transformational
socio political phases in the last few decades. In the pre-colonial era Asia had a rich history of
monarchy in its various regions and trade flourished among various Asian countries such as
China, India and the Arabian world. The western colonial powers changed the dynamics and
demographic equation of the region.
Discussion
During the imperial period various European powers like England, Portugal, France
and Spain had established their colonies in Asian countries. The Asian region proved to be
one of the principle sources for soldiers and labourers during the world wars. There was
competition and war among the colonial powers among themselves to expand their territory
in Asia.
After the Second World War the world was divided into two blocks and one of the
block was headed by communist Russia along with other Asian and east European nations
(Shambaugh&Yahuda, 2014). Larger part of Russia is within the ambits of Asia. Many
countries were out of the rivalry between these two blocks and were known as the nonaligned
countries or the third world countries.
The Northern part of Asia was mainly dominated by communist countries such as
Soviet Union, and China. However after the disintegration of Soviet Union and formation of
Russia, only China remains as the major communist power (Roughneen, 2018).

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In the southern part of Asia there are countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
among others. Pakistan and Bangladesh were disintegrated out of during the end of British
colonialism in the country (Weatherbee, 2014).
Conclusion
After the decolonisation of Asia, presently the continent has various power blocks and
many small independent countries. India and China are two powerful countries that have
emerged. USA has established a good relationship with India and Japan to keep a control on
the potential economic and political threat from China.

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Reference:
Roughneen, S. (2018). Southeast Asian nations watching China-U.S. trade tiff warily, but
reluctant to speak out. latimes.com. Retrieved 28 April 2018, from
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-singapore-asean-20180427-story.html
Shambaugh, D., &Yahuda, M. (Eds.). (2014). International relations of Asia. Rowman&
Littlefield.
Weatherbee, D. E. (2014). International relations in Southeast Asia: the struggle for
autonomy. Rowman& Littlefield.