Working from a New Map in Asia

Monday, Oct. 27, 1975

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Henry Kissinger has made seven trips to Peking since his dramatic secret visit in 1971. Last week he flew off on a five-day journey to the Far East that will take him to Tokyo (twice), as well as to the capital of the People's Republic. Around Washington, some of the Secretary's critics were asking, "Is this trip necessary?" Although the U.S. and China still have major areas of disagreement—notably over the status of Taiwan—they have learned to live with their differences. The Secretary of State is friendly with the men who make China's foreign policy, and there appears to be mutual confidence at the top.

Changing Map. In fact, as both sides work out an agenda for President Ford's trip next month, conversation will no doubt be useful and to the point —or points. Since Kissinger's last trip a year ago, the map of Asia has greatly changed. The most important differences, of course, are the fall of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia and the virtually complete withdrawal of the American presence from Indochina. Much of last spring's panic in non-Communist Asia has now disappeared. Nonetheless, once staunch American allies like the Philippines and Thailand are still trying to readjust to a world no longer dominated by the U.S.

The U.S. is now more concerned with Northeast Asia—Korea and Japan —than with Indochina. The Viet Nam earthquake may yet shake loose the fragile peace on the Korean peninsula. Fired by the Communist victory in Indochina, North Korea's President Kim II Sung seemed to some observers to be on the verge of invading South Korea last spring; he even went to Peking to seek Chinese support but came back chastened. China, he learned, wanted the Korean situation to remain peaceful for the time being, with an American garrison of 42,000 men as a counterweight to the Soviet presence in Siberia.

In his talks in Peking, Kissinger will try to get the Chinese to go along with a multinational effort to secure a permanent Korean peace. Korea, he reasons, is vital to the security of Japan, the economically most powerful nation in Asia. If Korea should go Communist, or be swept by war, Tokyo might well be forced to rearm in a massive way, probably with atomic weapons. Many Japanese officials are as afraid as Kissinger is of the prospect of a remilitarized Japan. They have urged him to make direct approaches to North Korea, if necessary, to guarantee peace on the peninsula.

Seoul, however, opposes any direct U.S. talks with Pyongyang unless South Koreans are present, and Pyongyang refuses to sit down with the South Koreans. Only last month, moreover, Chinese Foreign Minister Chiao Kuan-hua denounced as "of no avail" Kissinger's own plan for peace: a conference that would include the U.S., China, the two Koreas, and possibly Japan and the Soviet Union. In an interview with TIME last week (see page 35), Kissinger said, however, that he did not think this was absolutely the last word on the subject.