Conclusion: A New East Asian Order Nationalism has proved stronger than either communism or capitalism. In other words, in the face of nationalism, in a real sense ideology does not matter. With the end of the Cold War, the newly freed East European nations elected non-Communist governments while the US military superpower proved less than almighty against Asian nationalism. But what separated the winner and the loser in the Cold War was their understanding of legitimate movements in Asia and other parts of the world.
Having contravened its own ideals in which all nations and peoples are treated equally, the US failed in its policy toward Vietnam. But it soon corrected its policy, recognizing it as excessive interventionism. On the other hand, the Soviet Union kept on extending its power by force in the Third World in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. It also came to realize, perhaps by 1985, its overextension and excessive interventionism, but it was too late. By 1989, the Soviet Union found itself mired in contradiction: it finally collapsed from within.
In the 19th century, East Asian countries were greatly shocked by the West in terms of civilization, technology, and military power. Without exception, they experienced a huge Western impact. The gap in military and economic power between the West and the East put Asian countries in a subordinate position to the West. The West began to oppress the Asian peoples by using its military and industrial powers. Only Japan resisted the West in a real sense, defeating Russia in 1905.
But later Japan in the second half of the 19th century and up until the end of World War II turned out to only imitate Western imperialism―Japan was not a savior fighting for Asian independence. Asian countries learned that they would have to gain independence by making their own efforts and paying their own costs.
Asian liberation from outside aggressors required a long and hard struggle after World War II. The Cold War order hindered Asian nationalistic movements. However, the American ignorance of Asian feelings having culminated in the Vietnam War, Asian nationalism gradually began to overtake that Cold War order. Japan’s high economic growth, North Vietnam’s victory, China’s emergence as an international political power, and the rise of the Asian Newly-Industrializing Economies (NIES) proved that East Asia, having pushed aside Western oppression as Bruce Lee did, is now in turn having an impact on the West. And it will be through such impact and through mutual understanding that East and West will be able to create a new world order which will benefit all of us in the coming century.