Asian Nonalignment

Abstract

Asian nonalignment originated in the attitudes of Asian nationalists toward inter-European conflicts. As long as the West refused to accept nonalignment as a viable policy for the new nations of Asia, the inherent differences of attitudes and emphases in policy among them remained subdued. With the gradual acceptance of nonalignment by the great powers, the differences among the nonaligned have become manifest. A new challenge is posed to the foreign policies of the new na tions of Asia by the emergence of China as a major power. In the changed situation, the erstwhile attitudes remain only partly relevant; there is a greater awareness of the inevitable role of power in international politics. The search in Asia today is for an independent Asian balance of power. In so far as the extent of the role of non-Asian great powers in this balance re mains undetermined, a new problem exists of getting Asian non alignment accepted by outside powers.