Christopher Baxter - The Great Power Struggle in East Asia, 1944-50 [2009][A]

Book Description
The first comprehensive account of British policy towards China, Japan and Korea from the final stages of the Second World War to the outbreak of the Korean War, placed in the broader context of Far Eastern developments, the beginnings of the Cold War, dealings with the Commonwealth and, above all, relations with the United States. Based upon research in British, American and Australian archives, this book examines the tensions that emerged within the Anglo-American relationship as the United States sought to dominate the East Asian agenda and Britain agonised over the international role it should play in the region. That tension intensified over what the British perceived as an American failure to devise a post-war plan for East Asia other than the containment of Japan. As Communist threats inside China and Korea gained momentum, Britain, with valuable Far Eastern interests to protect, could not afford the Asian mainland to turn ‘red’ and found itself drawn increasingly into East Asian affairs far more than it desired.

Reviews
"Those who used to rely on Christopher Thorne, whose Allies of a Kind (1978) dealt with the war against Japan, will now have to follow another Christopher...[He] will be closely read in the future." J. M. Lee, Asian Affairs

"A solid and impressive work which will prove a very useful addition for students and academics seeking regional variation on post-war Anglo-American foreign policies and the origins of the Cold War." Alex Spelling, University of Aberdeen

"Historians interested in Anglo-American relations in the immediate post-war years will find this trawl through the official archives fascinating and instructive." Sir Hugh Cortazzi, The Japan Society

'The post-war British effort to retain a place of prominence in deciding world affairs is a sad tale that Christopher Baxter ably tells in his study discussing the early Cold War years in Japan, China and Korea...Among this study's strengths is its description of Australia's role as 'a major sub-plot' in post-war Anglo-American relations in East Asia, documenting how Britain failed to persuade its Commonwealth protege to expand its regional security capabilities...Extensive research in archival collections stretching from Britain to the United States to Australia and a long list of secondary sources supports Baxter's findings. Making excellent use of remarks in primary documents, the author [also] exposes hidden British contempt for US leaders.' - James Matray, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History

About the Author
CHRISTOPHER BAXTER is a Research Fellow in Intelligence History at Queen’s University Belfast. He was formerly one of the Foreign Office’s resident historians and is currently working on the Official History of SIS (MI6) with Professor Keith Jeffery. He is the co-editor of Diplomats at War: British and Commonwealth Diplomacy in Wartime (2008).
.