The Rising East
American posture in Asia
has flaws, but arrogance
isn’t among themAt a gathering of scholars interested in Asia, one raised a question: "Wasn't American 'arrogance' responsible for the hatred so many Asians feel toward the United States these days?"
On reflection, Americans over the past half-century have been guilty of many mistakes in Asia but "arrogance" is the least of them. We could be charged with ignorance, indifference bordering on isolationism, naivete, occasionally greed, sometimes poor judgment and miscalculation, inconsistency, self-serving policies and the undeniable insensitivity and bad manners of the "Ugly American."
But a nation cannot be accused of arrogance when it has filled the Punchbowl cemetery with warriors who fell in the defense of freedom, guaranteed the security of South Korea, helped to rebuild a devastated enemy in Japan, supported self-determination in Taiwan, granted independence to the Philippines peaceably, spent billions of dollars to deter aggressors from Kamchatka to Karachi, sent thousands of Peace Corps volunteers across the face of Asia, supported uncounted private charities and contributed to Asian prosperity by opening its markets.
Even in Vietnam, where the United States fought the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time, Americans were derelict and stumbled into a quagmire for which we paid a terrible price in blood and treasure. Ignorance, poor judgment, and a slew of strategic miscalculations, but not arrogance, were among the causes of the mistakes.
Webster's defines arrogance as "a feeling of superiority that shows itself in an overbearing manner" or as an "excessive claims of position, dignity, or power." Americans can be proud, even bold, but that does not constitute arrogance.
The allegation of arrogance may arise because the United States, after the turmoil of hot and cold wars during the 20th century, was the last to remain standing. That almost naturally and inevitably generates envy and resentment among nations that must follow the American lead, like it or not.
The allegation also may come from the deep-rooted American belief that the benefits of democracy are a universal human right to which all people are entitled. Naively perhaps, Americans seem to think everyone shares that conviction. Dictators in Asia surely do not and accuse the Americans of being arrogant because we seek to propagate that faith and thus undermine their oppressive regimes.
The record of the United States in Asia since the end of World War II, for all its flaws, still deserves more pluses than minuses. The occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1962 was perhaps history's most magnanimous treatment by the victor of the vanquished. While the Japanese worked hard to advance their economy and to foster democracy, Americans helped to lay the foundation.
In its fervor to contain communism during the Cold War, the U.S. government supported authoritarian regimes in South Korea but many Americans quietly supported democratic forces and economic development that gently nudged Seoul toward less repressive measures and eventually to the democracy, however fragile, that Korea experiences today.
The same has been true in Taiwan, first with a written and later with an unwritten pledge that the fate of that island nation was to be determined peaceably and in accord with the expressed wishes of the people. Open markets in the United States have been instrumental in Taiwan's economic progress.
To the Philippines, the United States promised independence before World War II and honored that pledge on July 4, 1946. Americans helped to beat back the Communist insurgency of the Hukbalahaps, first supported the oppressive President Ferdinand Marcos but then helped to ease him out. When Philippine nationalists demanded the withdrawal of the United States from Clark Air Force Base and the Subic Bay naval station, the Americans went home. American soldiers are back in the Philippines putting their lives on the line today to help eliminate the Abu Sayyaf terrorist thugs.
On it goes in Southeast Asia and, most recently, in Central Asia and South Asia. Americans have supported self-determination in East Timor, opposed the oppressive junta in Burma, rid Afghanistan of an onerous regime and conducted all sorts of humanitarian missions.
These are not the actions of an arrogant people. Are they self-serving? Of course they are. Nations may appear to be altruistic but, at rock bottom, all strive to protect their own interests. It would be naive to think otherwise.
Richard Halloran is editorial director of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at rhalloran@starbulletin.com