A Study Of The U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Southeast Asia Under Containment Strategy During Truman Administration

The foreign policies of Truman Administration were formulated under the guidance of Containment strategy. The strategy was primarily aimed at the Soviet Union, but also including at China and other socialist countries. To a large extent, Truman Administration formulated the foreign policy toward Southeast Asia in order to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union. Under the influence of the international surroundings, the U.S. foreign policy toward Southeast Asia was divided into two phases. And the outbreak of Korean War was the watershed. In the previous phase, the U.S. foreign policy was still being brewed and lacked clear objectives. In the later phase, the policy was mainly directed towards the three countries in Indochina especially Vietnam, and began to pay attention to the Chinese impacts on Southeast Asia. Therefore, the U.S. general policy toward Southeast Asia gradually developed into a clear one. Successive presidents after President Harry Truman actually followed and continued Truman Administration's Containment strategy. U.S. policy toward Southeast Asia was no exception. Hence, it is of very important theoretical and practical significance to study of the U.S. policy toward Southeast Asia during this period for the understanding of the postwar U.S. foreign policy and practice, and the interpretation of the US-Soviet relations, the relationships between the United States and the Third World countries.My thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter introduces the economic and political situations of the postwar Southeast Asia and analyzes the competition between international political forces in Southeast Asia. The second chapter discusses the background, content and objective of Containment strategy, so as to have a general grasp of Truman Administration's foreign policy. The third chapter takes Containment strategy as a clue, beginning with the U.S. foreign policy from the policy toward Europe and Middle East, and then turns to the U.S. policy toward Southeast Asia step by step, as well as analyzes the changes of the policy toward Southeast Asia and the results of its implementation. The fourth chapter stresses the evaluation of the Truman Administration's foreign policy toward Southeast Asia, analyzes the policy's effects on Southeast Asian countries, the United States and the interrelated countries, clarifies my personal understanding of Containment policy, and draws the conclusion that both national interests and ideology were taken into consideration when the U.S. foreign policy toward Southeast Asia was formulated.