Rana Mitter and Koji Nakakita

Published June 2004

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Mitter: China emerged from the Korean War as a more confident actor in the international order. The paper considers three wider contexts within which China's experience of the Korean War should be considered: as part of a spectrum of 20th century wars, as part of a Cold War binarism in politics, and as part of a drive toward technological modernity. Nakakita: The Korean armistice which ended the hot war in Asia encouraged Japanese political parties of the left and right to amalgamate and inaugurate 'the 1955 system'. It caused some domestic hardship by further reducing US Special Procurements which had played a vital part in reviving Japan's postwar industry. It also enabled Japan to re-frame its policies towards China and the US.