East Asia–United States relations covers American relations with the region as a whole, as well as summaries of relations with China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and smaller places. It includes diplomatic, military, economic, social, and cultural ties. The emphasis is on historical developments.

Main countries Country Formal Relations BeganNotes1844 (Qing)1979 (PRC)See China–United States relations, China–United States trade war and Artificial Intelligence Cold War American relations with the People's Republic of China cycled from very hostile (1949–1970), friendly with growing trade (1970–2015), and hostile again (2016–present). A great amount of trade between the two countries necessitates positive political relations, although occasional disagreements over tariffs, currency exchange rates and the Political status of Taiwan do occur. The U.S. criticizes China on human rights issues and in recent years like the mass detaining of Uyghurs and Kazakhs in Xinjiang or the cultural assimilation of Mongols and Tibetans under the general secretaryship of Xi Jinping. China has criticized the United States on human rights in return also. The United States acknowledges the People's Republic's One-China policy.

The relations deteriorated sharply under Donald Trump, who launched a trade war against China, banned US companies from selling equipment to Huawei, increased visa restrictions on Chinese students and scholars and designated China as a "currency manipulator".19921999See Hong Kong–United States relations and Macau–United States relationsSee United States–Hong Kong Policy Act and United States–Macau Policy Act1844 (Qing)1911 (ended 1979)1979 (Taiwan Relations Act - unofficial)See Taiwan–United States relations The U.S. recognized the Nationalist Government as the legitimate government of all of China throughout the Chinese Civil War. The U.S. continued to recognize the Republic of China until 1979, when it shifted its recognition to the People's Republic of China in accordance with the One China policy. The U.S. continued to provide Taiwan with military aid after 1979, and continued informal relations through the American Institute in Taiwan, and is considered to be a strong Asian ally and supporter of the United States.Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, ed., Dangerous Strait: The U.S.-Taiwan-China Crisis (2005)1854, 1952See Japan–United States relations

The relationship began in the 1850s as the U.S. was a major factor in forcing Japan to resume contacts with the outer world beyond a very restricted role. In the late 19th century the Japanese sent many delegations to Europe, and some to the U.S., to discover and copy the latest technology and thereby modernize Japan very rapidly and allow it to build its own empire. There was some friction over control of Hawaii and the Philippines, but Japan stood aside as the U.S. annexed those lands in 1898. Likewise the U.S. did not object when Japan took control of Korea. The two nations cooperated with the European powers in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, but the U.S. was increasingly troubled about Japan's denial of the Open Door Policy that would ensure that all nations could do business with China on an equal basis.Foster Rhea Dulles, Yankees and Samurai: America's Role in the Emergence of Modern Japan, 1791–1900 (1965)

President Theodore Roosevelt admired Japan's strength as it defeated a major European power, Russia. He brokered an end to the war between Russia and Japan in 1905–6. Anti-Japanese sentiment (especially on the West Coast) soured relations in the 1907–24 era. In the 1930s the U.S. protested vehemently against Japan's seizure of Manchuria (1931), its war against China (1937–45), and its seizure of Indochina (Vietnam) 1940–41. American sympathies were with China and Japan rejected increasingly angry American demands that Japan pull out of China. The two nations fought an all-out war 1941–45; the U.S. won a total victory, with heavy bombing (including two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) that devastated Japan's 50 largest industrial cities. The American army under Douglas MacArthur occupied and ruled Japan, 1945–51, with the successful goal of sponsoring a peaceful, prosperous and democratic nation.Walter LaFeber, The Clash: A History of US–Japan Relations (W.W. Norton, 1997)

In 1951, the U.S. and Japan signed Treaty of San Francisco and Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan, subsequently revised as Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan in 1960, relations since then have been excellent. The United States considers Japan to be one of its closest allies, and it is both a Major Non-NATO ally and NATO contact country. The United States has several military bases in Japan including Yokosuka, which harbors the U.S. 7th Fleet. The JSDF, or Japanese Self Defense Force, cross train with the U.S. Military, often providing auxiliary security and conducting war games.1987See Mongolia–United States relationsOnly Informal Relations2018 North Korea–United States summit See North Korea–United States relationsThe United States and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations. 1882 (Joseon); 1949 (Republic)See South Korea–United States relations

South Korea–United States relations have been most extensive since 1945, when the United States helped establish capitalism in South Korea and led the UN-sponsored Korean War against North Korea and China (1950–53).Jae Ho Chung, Between Ally and Partner: Korea-China Relations and the United States (2008) excerpt and text search South Korea's rapid economic growth, democratization and modernization greatly reduced its U.S. dependency. Large numbers of U.S. forces remain in Korea. On September 24, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the United States-South Korea Trade Deal with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

History

Japan

The relationship between the United States and Japan was minimal before 1853 due to Japan's self-imposed isolation from the world, which lasted over two centuries. The Japanese government issued the "Sakoku" policy in 1633, prohibiting foreigners from entering Japan and Japanese from leaving the country under penalty of death. In the 1850s, the US and other Western countries started to demand more access to Japan for trade and diplomacy. This led to Commodore Matthew C. Perry's arrival with his "Black Ships" in 1853. Japan complied with the Bakumatsu. It opened its ports to foreign vessels and signed treaties with the West, such as the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan), called the Harris Treaty of 1858.Charles E. Neu, The Troubled Encounter: The United States and Japan (1975) pp. 1–14. online

Revolutionary changes inside Japan during the Meiji Restoration that began in 1868 led to very rapid modernization, industrialization and eagerness to learn from and trade with the U.S. and Europe. Trade expanded rapidly. The US played an essential role in this transformation, providing technology, higher education, and political guidance. The U.S. also sent missionaries, but they made few converts.Neu, The Troubled Encounter pp. 15–27.

Better travel opportunities The opportunities for fast steamship travel from San Francisco improved dramatically in the second half of the 19th century. The first regular steamship route carried passengers, freight and mail to Yokohama in 1867. The transcontinental railroad opened in 1869 and service was expanded to China and the South Pacific. The US Post Office subsidized it to carry the mail and only one line of steamers connected the U.S. to Japan in 1885, but by 1898 there were six. The trip to Yokohama took 22 days in 1886, and only 12 days in 1898, and the rates for passenger and freight continued to fall.Ian Tyrrell, "Looking Eastward: Pacific and Global Perspectives on American History in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries", Japanese Journal of American Studies, No. 18 (2007) pp 41-57.

Southeast Asia Early American entry into what was then called the East Indies was low key. In 1795, a secret voyage for pepper set sail from Salem, Massachusetts on an 18-month voyage that returned with a bulk cargo of pepper, the first to be so imported into the country, which sold at a profit of seven hundred per cent. In 1831, the merchantman Friendship of Salem returned to report the ship had been plundered, and the first officer and two crewmen murdered in Sumatra. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 obligated the Dutch to ensure the safety of shipping and overland trade in and around Aceh, and they accordingly sent the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army on the punitive expedition of 1831. President Andrew Jackson also ordered America's first Sumatran punitive expedition of 1832, which was followed by a second punitive expedition in 1838. The Friendship incident thus afforded the Dutch a reason to take over Aceh; and Jackson, to dispatch diplomatist Edmund Roberts, who in 1833 secured the Roberts Treaty with Siam. In 1856, negotiations for amendment of this treaty, Townsend Harris stated the position of the United States:The United States does not hold any possessions in the East, nor does it desire any. The form of government forbids the holding of colonies. The United States therefore cannot be an object of jealousy to any Eastern Power. Peaceful commercial relations, which give as well as receive benefits, is what the President wishes to establish with Siam, and such is the object of my mission. – Credits

China

Opium trade