Pacific Rim and French influence - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... For a time there were different empires: Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French, British, and the short-lived German and Italian empires in Africa and other regions. As such of the Southeast Asian Pacific Rim fell under the socio-political, economic influence of the French colonial power. In recent years, popular upheaval has sought to shake the chains of oppression.
One such example is that of Vietnam. From the colonial period, France colonized Vietnam. After World War II, the Vietnamese began resisting the French rule with help of Communism. As France was losing its grip on the nation, the United States stepped in to try and halt the tide of communist advance in the region. This failing on the part of the French and subsequent American involvement culminated in the Vietnam War of the 1960s. During the 1900s, many of the traditional colonies of the European expansion won their independence from the West in terms of self-governing autonomy. This trend continues.
The result of such changes in the Pacific Rim region is the south East Asian environment of today. To bring more political and economic strength, there has been recent progress towards the formation of an entity called the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC). It represents the beginning of a regional community of countries to cooperate through integrated trade and cultural relations. Even though these countries have severed their colonial ties, they sometimes still feel the yoke of subjugation. To the anger of many of the Pacific Rim countries, France continues to use the region for nuclear testing. Grassroots movements against the dumping of hazardous wastes in the Pacific or the transshipment of wastes or of plutonium have risen against these policies. It seems that although these are sovereign nations, they must still battle imperialism in the form of protecting the environment.
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