Adrian Kwong

Republic of China Diplomacy in the Age of Global Decolonisation and the Cold War, Southeast Asia c. 1945-57.

My project studies the research question, How (if at all) and why did the Republic of China (ROC)’s diplomacy regarding the Cold War and decolonisation conflicts in Malaya and Vietnam, c. 1945-57? As case studies in the shift of the ROC from an aspiring world or regional power before 1949 to a Cold Warrior state dependent on American patronage, I plan to study ROC policies towards the citizenship of co-ethnics in decolonising societies, its approach to the conflicts of anti-colonialism and anti-Communism in this period, and the mutual diplomatic recognition and domestic politics of Malaya and Vietnam. I plan to draw on archival sources across multiple countries, including Taiwan and the UK, to understand the nature and causes of changes in ROC diplomacy as it adapted to the loss of the Mainland and the retreat to Taiwan, newfound reliance on Cold War American patronage, and decolonisation in Southeast Asia. Through this project, I hope to contribute to the historiography of how small states responded to the global developments of decolonisation and the Cold War; and the historiography of the Republic of China and Taiwan, which has recently drawn attention to the ROC’s visions of the future in the postwar years, and the ways in which Taiwan’s diplomacy post-1949 reflected not only reliance on American patronage, but its own visions of Asian solidarity and modernity as well as Chinese ethno-nationalism.

CV Link: To be updated

Supervisor: Dr Jennifer Altehenger & Professor Rana Mitter