Essay: AMERICA S PERMANENT STAKE IN ASIA

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THE success of last week's national elections in South Viet Nam showed in remarkable fashion that the U.S.'s determined moves there have accomplished far more than a military standoff of the Communists. They have not only stiffened the spirit of the South Vietnamese but—what is less noticed in the national preoccupation with the war—they have created a new atmosphere of hope and confidence throughout Asia's southern crescent of nations, shoring up and strengthening Red China's fearful neighbors from Pakistan and India to Japan and South Korea. In this new atmosphere, usually with little direct action by the U.S., a rather astonishing series of transformations has taken place.

The change consists of a quickening of national pride, a new solidity of national spirit, a sense of autonomy and freedom. Ever since the Communist siege of Pleiku in February 1965 galvanized the U.S. into action in the air and an ensuing buildup on the ground, the nations of the crescent have stood up and gone their own way with a new assurance that Chinese Communism need not be the battering wave of the future. There is no longer much talk of the "domino theory," which held that the fall of Viet Nam would be followed in quick succession by the fall of other nations in the area, precisely because no one any longer talks seriously of the fall of Viet Nam—or feels like a domino.

The Philippines and South Korea, though expectable American allies, have both shown their confidence in U.S. determination by sending troops to Viet Nam. Thailand has given the use of airbases to the U.S. while moving vigorously, with American help, to counter Communist insurgency in its troubled northeastern provinces. At the other extreme, Indonesia, not long ago-Peking's most belligerent camp follower, has turned on its own Communist Party, ousted it from influence and well-nigh annihilated it. This, in turn, has led to the end of the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation that for so long kept that part of Asia tense.

Burma's neutralist strongman Ne Win, whose nation shares 1,200 miles of border with Red China, feels secure enough to take a 21-month trip abroad — including a visit to the U.S. that he hardly would have considered making a few months ago. Having bitterly broken away from Malaysia a year ago and first set out on a violently anti-American, pro-Peking trajectory, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, himself a Chinese, has lately warmed up to Malaysia and now openly praises America's role in Viet Nam. Faced by the xenophobic madness of the Red Guards, whose actions sent a cold shiver running through Asia, Japan is beginning to contemplate a future in which Tokyo rather than Peking may emerge as the most important Asian capital. Even Prince Sihanouk's Cambodia, which not so very long ago was trailing along after Peking, is now eyeing a safer seat on the fence. And it may not be too much to say that Red China's setbacks helped to encourage North Korea to proclaim its own path of independent Communism. Like others—and perhaps more than others—Asians favor the side of the winner, and, says Thailand's National Development Minister Pote Sarasin, "Everyone is now convinced that the future does not lie with the Communists."

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