Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy

Solution Preview

1. and 2. (These seem to coincide) A presidential doctrine is made up of key goals, attitudes, or stances for United States foreign affairs outlined by a president. Surprisingly, most presidential doctrines are related to the Cold War. The Nixon doctrine (also known as "Vietnamization") was issued in July 1969. He stated that the United States would continue to honor all treaty obligations and would step in if any other countries threatened U.S. allies with nuclear power. It also stated that the U.S. would assist with military and economic aid to its allies, as long as that country accepted responsibility to provide manpower for its defense. By the time Nixon took office, the Cold War had been going on for four years. There were many peace campaigns and rallies in the U.S. to bring the troops home. Because of this, Nixon made promise of "peace with honor" in Vietnam. A good part of this promise was the Nixon doctrine, declared in 1969 in Guam. This doctrine was the beginning of the end of U.S. involvement in the Cold War.

3. The U.S./Vietnam relationship has been strengthening for some time now. In fact, this year celebrates 20 years of normalized ties to Vietnam. This was done during Clinton's presidency. Since then, the US and Vietnam have been working together to strengthen all areas (humanitarian, social, economic, etc.). This relationship has become one of the key bilateral relationships in Asia-Pacific. The Vietnam Education Foundation Act is one of achievements that marked normalization between Vietnam and the US. This Act was passed in 2000. This program is focused on training and providing fairness and equality to help bring students from Vietnam to study in ivy-league and leading US universities, such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Berkeley, etc.

4. For this answer, I found some good information that I'm just going to copy and paste. I think you'll find it helpful.

Japan and Taiwan: The New Nixon Doctrine and the Rise of China

The challenge for the other two Asian countries to which the U.S. has military alliance commitments, Japan and Taiwan, is that their primary potential adversary is China, a considerably stronger power than prostrate North Korea. Yet the Nixon Doctrine still offers helpful guidance on the U.S. strategy toward these East Asian allies.

Japan and Taiwan are both wealthy countries that can afford to create and train first-rate militaries, and they have already done so. They also have ready access to high-tech weapons and to large, well-educated mobilization bases. And they are favored by geography: The sea separates them from potential invaders, and defending against a hypothetical amphibious assault or naval blockade would play to their technological strengths.

Like South Korea, neither Japan nor Taiwan would be impervious to damage resulting from a potential attack. But both could reasonably expect to succeed in the conventional defense of their own freedom, especially if they invest carefully during the transition to a new burden-sharing relationship with the U.S. They would not relish the burden, but they could bear it. Of course, unless the U.S. announces a renaissance of the Nixon Doctrine, they would have no reason to choose to spend more for their own defense.

Using U.S. nuclear forces to deter possible Chinese nuclear coercion is more difficult than extending the American deterrent to protect South Korea against the North. China has a small but potent force of intercontinental ballistic missiles that would raise questions about American credibility. But surely China would not relish pitting its small ICBM force against the full panoply of American retaliatory, or pre-emptive, ...