Asia Pacific Economic and Historical
Timeline of Events
1945 US bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Soviet Union declares war on Japan under Potsdam agreement. Emperor Hirohito surrenders, gives up divine status. Japan placed under US military government with Gen. MacArthur installed as Supreme Commander Allied Powers (SCAP) in Japan.
1945 United Nations founded; World Bank and International Monetary Fund established following Bretton Woods meetings in US.
1945-49:numerous Third World countries, incl. India (1947), Burma (1948), Indonesia (1949), gain independence from colonial rule.
1945-46:Ho Chi Minh issues Vietnam’s declaration of independence from France. Vietnam war begins.
1945-52 :US occupation of Japan. US-Japan Peace Treaty ratified.
1949 CCP “liberates” Taiwan; KMT government flees to Taiwan.
1950-53:Korean War, as North Korea invades the South; war ends in Armistice Agreement
1954 Vietnam War against France ends; Geneva Conference promises elections for unified country.
1955 Bandung (Indonesia) First Conference of Non-Aligned Countries.
1960 US-Japan Security Treaty
1967 ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) founded: Original members: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand; then Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos and Burma (1997) and Cambodia (1998).
1971 PRC enters UN & Taiwan expelled.
1972 Nixon visits China; US-PRC joint communiqué accepts “one China”
1975 Taiwan leader and founder Chiang Kai-shek dies; succeeded by Chiang Ching-kuo.
1979 US severs relations with Taiwan, abrogates defense treaty, withdraws forces, US-PRC diplomatic relations and unofficial relations w/ Taiwan are established.
1979 Taiwan Relations Act passed by US Congress.
1981 Ye Jianying gives 9 principles for settling Taiwan question “one country, two systems”
1982 3rd US-PRC communiqué pledges US restraints on arms to Taiwan.
1988 Lee Teng-hui becomes president of Taiwan.
1989 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) founded.
1989 “Tiananmen Incident” (June 4)
1990 Taiwan formally ends state of war with People’s Republic of China.
1990’s China’s zhoubian diplomacy
1991 President Bush announces US withdrawal of nuclear weapons. Both Koreas become UN members.
1992 President Roh Tae Woo issues declaration on nuclear-free S. Korea.
1994 KEDO (Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization): ROK, US, Japan, EU (non-confrontational, efforts link gov’t to private sector).
1994 ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA): Trade liberalization
1996 Lee Teng-hui is elected in first direct vote for Taiwan president.
1997 Asian financial crisis begins in Thailand.
2000 Chen Shui-bian elected president of Taiwan (reelected in 2004)
2000 Kim Dae Jung-Kim Jong Il summit meeting in Pyongyang.
2001 9/11 terrorist attacks on US; Bush inaugurates “war on terror”
2003 US invasion and occupation of Iraq
2003 New PRC leadership of Pres. Hu Jintao and Prem. Wen Jiabao
2003 Six Party Talks on North Korea held in Beijing after N. Korea reveals nuclear-weapons program
Originally developed by MIM/1999 student Sydney Dugan