Asia: The Perils & Promise of Peace

• Share

Asians, says Japan's Foreign Minister Takeo Miki, must work together on "a blueprint for the construction of peace." Behind that message lies the fact that the Viet Nam war—with its massive in flux of U.S. dollars—has had a major economic impact on non-Communist Asia. With peace a distinct, if still distant possibility, the challenge confronting Asians is to gird their war-swollen economies for a more enduring—and healthier—resurgence.

Peace could come as a jolt to many countries. Yet the war has helped lay a foundation for economic growth. Even battle-ravaged South Viet Nam will have gained new airports and harbors, built for waging war but equally suitable for handling peacetime traffic. In Thailand, U.S.-built military roads can be used—indeed already are being used —to get native farm products to market. Similarly, says John K. Wilhelm, an American AID official in Saigon, the heavy ocean-cargo volume generated by the war "might simply be transferred to civilian shipping" once hostilities cease.

Asia is short on specific plans—shorter still on capital—for economic development. There is no dearth, however, of physical or human resources. Its technical advisers in Viet Nam have proved that Taiwan has the kind of electric power, harbor development and agricultural experts necessary for rebuilding war's ruins. Malaysia can join in the reconstruction effort with timber and cement, South Korea with textiles and fertilizer. Indonesia, potentially a major Asian supplier of oil and copper, is even now busily luring the foreign investment necessary to exploit its rich natural resources.

The Fleet's Ice Cream. Obviously, the adjustment to peace would be hardest for the countries where the dollar deluge has been heaviest. In the Philippines, where the number of American troops and dependents has increased to 50,000 since the start of the Viet Nam buildup, the U.S. military outlay last year was $150 million, which helped considerably in easing the effects of Manila's outsize trade deficit.

In South Korea, wages—paid in dollars —sent home by countrymen fighting and working in South Viet Nam account for $62 million a year in sorely needed foreign-exchange earnings. And such pleasure haunts as Hong Kong and Bangkok enjoy a windfall—$100 million a year, all told—from rest-and-recreation visits by Viet Nam-based U.S. servicemen.

The war has also played a part in Taiwan's newfound prosperity. Last year the Nationalist Chinese sold South Viet Nam some $100 million in machinery, fertilizer and other goods, nearly 15% of Taiwan's total exports. In Japan, the U.S. military during 1967 bought some $200 million worth of goods for Viet Nam, ranging from sandbags to Isuzu buses. The war less directly helped generate another $800 million in Japanese exports; for example, G.I.s based in Southeast Asia purchased 13% of Japan's total camera exports. Other beneficiaries include Singapore and Malaysia, which store and ship Viet Nam-bound petroleum products, a trade that amounted last year to some $100 million between them.