On The Vietnam War And The American Policy Towards Laos

During the Cold War, the US foreign policy towards Laos which is the small landlocked country in Southeast Asia experienced a process from disregarding, watching to valuing. At last, the US launched military invasions to Laos and was trapped. And this process coincided with that to Vietnam. It had a deep impact on Southeast Asia and other Asian countries such as China, the reasons are worth exploring. In the meantime, we can come to understand the process and features of the US government’s foreign policy from it.The thesis consists of the introduction and the conclusion, and also four chapters.The introduction part contains the basis of the topics, theoretical and realistic significance, the overview of the current research on this topic both domestic and abroad, as well as the general content of overall research ideas and methods.The first chapter introduces the reasons why the US has such policies towards Laos. It makes an overview on the condition of Laos before its independence, including the period during the reign of France and Japan, and also the period during the first Indochina War. After World War II, in order to contain the momentum of the communism in Asia, the US had an increasing concern for every country adjacent to China in Southeast Asia. France was in a post-war debilitation, the colonial ruling to the area of Southeast, including Laos, slackened off. So when French forces evacuated from Laos, the US then tried every means to fill in the power vacuum in this area.During the first session of the Eisenhower administration, the US initiatively intervened into Laos. With the situation in Vietnam gradually out of control, the second session of the Eisenhower Administration increasingly put an emphasis on Southeast Asia, especially Laos. It put forward the "Domino theory" and started a further interference in Laos.It tried to manipulate the Laos Civil War through offering assistance, attempting coups etc. and wanted to control situations in Laos by establishing pro-American regime.The second chapter discusses the policy towards Laos during the Kennedy Administration. Although President Kennedy was in office for only three years, he experienced various crises, including the Laos Crisis which lasted almost throughout his period in office. In order to prevent the communist party coming into power in Laos, shortly after he was sworn in, President Kennedy began to organize human resource to analyze and investigate the solutions on Laos crisis. Being mindful of the lessons learned in Korean War, Kennedy hesitated to choose armed intervention, and therefore contributed to the Geneva conference to solve the problem of Laos. At this time, Khrushchev was in office in the Soviet Union, he changed the original hard line which Stalin has consistently adhered to. Thus, the two sides led to the "Agreements of the Geneva Conference on Indo-China", and accordingly established the Laos coalition government. However, due to lack of stable foundation, the new government disintegrated soon. To ensure its status and influence in Laos, the US tried to reconstruct the pro-American regime, but failed in Kennedy Administration.The third chapter discusses the policy towards Laos during the Johnson Administration. Due to the tense situation in Vietnam and the close contacts between North Vietnam and the Communist forces in Laos, the US believed the Pathet Lao’s violent offensive related closely to the Communist Party of Vietnam. In order to fight against the Communist forces in Laos and cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail through which Pathet Lao delivered supplies to North Vietnam, the Johnson Administration finally decided to carry out military intervention in Laos. Firstly the US utilized domestic coup in Laos to foster pro-American regime and to bring Laos under control. At the same time, the US started a secret air-raid on the Pathet Lao forces to make it destroyed, especially aimed at the Ho Chi Minh Trail and its surrounding areas. Among the Johnson Administration’s military actions in Laos, the secret wars and the covert actions played a vital role. However, due to the initial victory of the North Vietnam Tet Offensive in Vietnam battlefield, the US domestic economic crisis and the anti-war sentiment, the current policy towards Laos fell into trouble and have to be adjusted.The fourth chapter discusses the policy towards Laos during the Nixon-Ford Administration. Since in this period the US declined in the US-Soviet competition, and also mired in Vietnam War, the President Nixon proposed the policy of strategic contraction in the Asia Pacific region, which was the later "Nixon Doctrine". The intention was evident in the US policy towards Laos. The focus of US policy in Asia during this period was in Vietnam, so its policy towards Laos showed more evidently the subordinate status to the Vietnam War. To meet the "Vietnamization" policy, measures of Thailandization were correspondingly implemented in Laos, the US intended to make the mission of the US military completed by the Thai troops trained by the US military. At the same time, in order to earn a political bargaining chip in negotiations for the ceasefire, Nixon Administration continued to engage in a secret war in Laos. Eventually, all forces in Laos signed a peace agreement after the Vietnam cease-fire. Then the America-backed right-wing forces in Laos lost the support and led to weak governance, so later replaced by the People’s Revolutionary Committees. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic was establishedThe conclusion part summarizes the impact of the Vietnam War on the US policy towards Laos and the features of this policy, analyzes the development and implementation of the US policy to Laos, as well as the reason why it get such final results, so it contributes a lot to analyze and judge the trends of today’s American foreign policy.