Between early 1978 and late 1980, power relationships in the Pacific region underwent historic transformation. Deng-Xiaoping, re-emerging as a key leader in the People's Republic of China, demonstrated pragmatism in domestic and foreign policy. Beijing negotiated a Peace and Friendship Treaty with Japan, apparently opening an era of Sino-Japanese economic cooperation. Moscow viewed this development with alarm, fearing it would lead to a three-way alliance including the United States. Meanwhile, Japan foreswore any military significance in closer links with the PRC, but by succumbing to the Chinese demand for inclusion of a treaty clause denouncing Soviet hegemony, became an involuntary participant in the Sino-Soviet conflict. In this environment, the Sino-Japanese treaty-- which might have been an innocuous footnote to postwar history--became an event marking a new phase in East Asian affairs. Dr. Bedeski draws on Chinese, Soviet, and Japanese sources to clarify the relationships among the wide range of events ensuing from the treaty and points to its relevance to a new era of Sino-Soviet relations. The irony of the Peace and Friendship Treaty, he concludes, is that_it probably was a catalyst of insecurity and hostility in the region and that it became an important event leading to the participation of non-Communist actors--Japan, the U.S., and NATO-- in the Sino-Soviet conflict.

Between early 1978 and late 1980, power relationships in the Pacific region underwent historic transformation. Deng-Xiaoping, re-emerging as a key leader in the People's Republic of China, demonstrated pragmatism in domestic and foreign policy. Beijing negotiated a Peace and Friendship Treaty with Japan, apparently opening an era of Sino-Japanese economic cooperation. Moscow viewed this development with alarm, fearing it would lead to a three-way alliance including the United States. Meanwhile, Japan foreswore any military significance in closer links with the PRC, but by succumbing to the Chinese demand for inclusion of a treaty clause denouncing Soviet hegemony, became an involuntary participant in the Sino-Soviet conflict.

One Korea or two?The persistence of North and South Korea since 1948 has been a source of one war and fears of new wars. Although they share centuries of common culture, society and politics, the two nations differ on fundamentals today: capitalist democracy in the south and totalitarian communism in the north. Dynamics of the Korean State provides a unique overview of how humans treasure their individual lives and how these dynamics intertwine with Korean history and state evolution.The book examines the development of the Korean state from ancient times and sees its roots in the Stone Age struggle for survival. The persistent theme has been to Prolong Life - Postpone Death. Hence, the origins of every state can be found in man's Will-to-Live, and this is demonstrated in the Will/action framework offered by the author. Human Will, not material determinism or divine plan, creates the state. This primary Will generates five other Wills, which motivate actions to culminate in the state and give it a fluidity over time. The six Wills/actions are as follows: Will-to-Live/production; Will-to-Freedom/innovation; Will-to-Power/organization; Will-to-Comply/enforcement; Will-to-Transcend/political vision & religion; and Will-to-Redirect/reform, usurpation, rebellion, revolution. These in combination influence and partially determine state configuration and fluidity, creating order, disorder, war, prosperity, and poverty along the way. This book reveals the undercurrents of Korean society, politics and history from a fresh perspective. Neither pure history nor descriptive politics, it is a significant contribution to a philosophical anthropology paradigm.