Five Leaders Who Changed Asia

Five Leaders Who Changed Asia

Table of Contents I. Deng Xiaoping….…………………………………………………………………………….2 II. Ho Chi Minh….…….……………………………………………………………………….3 III. Kim Il Sung…………………………………………………………………......................4 IV. Lee Kuan Yew…………………..………………………………………………………….5 V. Yoshida Shigeru…………..……………………………………………………………..…..6 VI. Suggested Readings…………………………………………………………………………7

*Compiled by Kat Harrington, Asian Studies Events & Outreach

I. Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) Deng Xiaoping was born the son of a prosperous landowner on August 22, 1904 in Guangan, Sichuan Province. Deng joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1924 while studying in France. Before returning home in 1926, Deng also pursued studies in Moscow, Russia for several months.

During the Long March of 1934, Deng served as the director of the political department and then as the political commissar of the First Army Corp. In 1937, Deng was appointed political commissar of one of the largest Communist army units during the war with Japan. His success in the military allowed him to rise quickly in the CCP, becoming Secretary-General in 1954, and two years later, he became the General Secretary of the Politburo’s Standing Committee, making him one of the six most powerful men in China.

In the late 1960’s, Deng was exiled during the Cultural Revolution after he fell out of Mao’s favor. Deng was sent to rural Jiangxi for 4 years for “reeducation.” In 1973, Deng returned to Peking and was reinstated as the vice premier. Deng gradually gained more power and responsibility as Premier Chou Enlai was hospitalized after 1974. After Mao died in 1977, Deng put the Gang of Four, Mao’s most radical supporters, on public trial in order to destroy Mao’s lasting influence and authority.

Deng’s arguably most important legacy was the economic reforms he instituted after Mao’s death. His economic policies included opening China to the rest of the world to attract foreign investment and to educate Chinese students abroad. Deng also reduced investment in heavy industries, increased prices paid by the state to farmers, and arranged bonuses to raise workers’ income. Under Deng, free markets emerged in China and state owned factories began to take into account profitability and market conditions.

Interestingly, despite these reforms, Deng still insisted on China remaining a socialist country. However, this was difficult as although Deng’s reforms improved the standard of living, it also produced inequality among Chinese citizens. At the same time, the corruption of the government caused widespread student demonstrations across China. One such demonstration was held at Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of Chinese students were murdered by the military. Deng resigned not long after the Tiananmen Square incident.

“Deng Xiaoping.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004 www.encyclopedia.com 15 September 2011

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II. Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyen That Thanh on May 19, 1890 in the village of Kim Lien in central Vietnam (French Indochina at this time). Many of Ho’s family members, who were considered scholar revolutionaries, were dismissed from government service for anti-French activities. At the early age of 9, Ho was forced to flee to the capital, Hue, with his mother when she was charged with stealing weapons for rebels.

When the Chinese revolution broke out, Ho went to study in France, after travelling the world as a mess boy on an ocean liner, to better understand French conditions before choosing the revolutionary’s path. In France, Ho worked odd jobs while trying to gain French sympathy for Vietnam but was perturbed by the indifference Europeans showed towards the colonies. Ho sided with the French Communist Party, which supported Lenin’s program for colonial emancipation, when it split from the French Socialist Party in 1920.

Throughout the 1920’s and 30’s, Ho travelled between China and Russia, building up several revolutionary groups, including the Indochinese Communist Party. In 1941, Ho established a hideout in the Vietnamese jungle. There he founded the Viet Minh and rebelled against French colonial rule in the First Indochina War. During World War II, Ho asked China for military assistance in return for intelligence reports on Japanese forces in Indochina. Ho also offered repeatedly to collaborate with U.S. intelligence forces, hoping to be rewarded with American assistance.

After Japan’s surrender in World War II, Ho proclaimed Vietnam’s independence on September 2, 1945.

War with France broke out in December of 1946 and ended eight years later with France’s defeat. In 1954, an agreement was signed in Geneva that partitioned Vietnam along the 17th parallel, effectively splitting the country into North and South Vietnam. Minh and the National Liberation Front, or Vietcong, assumed control of the North.

Ho resumed guerilla activities, and the United States increased its military assistance to South Vietnam, resulting in the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955-1975. Ho eventually agreed to send representatives to peace talks in Paris, but Ho stalled in hopes that the anti-war feeling in the United States would lead to better treaty conditions for North Vietnam. However, Ho died on September 3, 1969 in the middle of talks.

“Ho Chi Minh.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004 www.encyclopedia.com 15 September 2011

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III. Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) Kim Il Sung was born in Mangyongdae, near Pyongyang, as Kim Song-Ju to a Christian family. He fled with his parents to Manchuria in 1925 to escape Japanese colonial rule. When he was 17, he was expelled from school for his political (socialist) activities, and instead of continuing his schooling, he joined a guerrilla band to fight the Japanese encroachment on Manchuria.

From approximately 1932-1941, Kim fought Japanese forces in Manchuria under the North-East Anti-Japanese United Army. It was during this time that he assumed the name Kim Il Sung, meaning “become the sun,” which had belonged to a famous icon of early Korean resistance.

In 1941, Japanese military advancements forced Kim to flee to the Soviet Union, where he fought with China’s Red Army. He spent the next four years in a Soviet training camp, where he married and fathered two sons, one of which was Kim Jong Il. Towards the end of World War II, Kim led his Korean People’s Revolutionary Army into Korea as the Soviets declared war against Japan and was chosen by the Soviets, some accounts suggest by Stalin himself, as the leader of their half of Korea.

With Moscow’s backing, he established the Provisional People’s Committee, which nationalized all industry and land, the Korean Peoples Army (KPA), and eventually the Workers’ Party of Korea.

Kim was officially declared Premier of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1948 after Soviet troops withdrew. In order to fulfill his dream of Korean unity, the KPA invaded South Korea in 1950, igniting the Korean War. The war halted with the signing of an armistice. The Korea War remains the longest ongoing war in contemporary history.

As head of the DPRK, Kim introduced the philosophy of juche, or self-reliance. Under this philosophy, North Korea’s economy grew rapidly in the 1950’s but stagnated in the 60’s. Despite the country’s economic troubles, Kim was still able to rule through highly effective propaganda.

In 1972, Kim stepped down as Premier and became President under a revised constitution. Despite his death in 1994, Kim Il Sung remains the Eternal President of the DPRK and is still revered as the “Great Leader” in North Korea today.

“Kim Il Sung.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008 www.encyclopedia.com 15 September 2011

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IV. Lee Kuan Yew (1923- Present) Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of Singapore and served as such for three decades, from 1959 to 1990, making him the world’s longest-serving prime minister.

Lee was born on September 16, 1923 in Singapore, which was a British colony at the time, to an upper-middle class Chinese Hakka family. His first language was English and did not acquire Chinese, Malay, and Tamil (the languages of Singapore’s major populations) until he entered politics. When the Japanese conquered Singapore during World War II, Lee taught himself Japanese and worked as a translator for various Japanese institutions. Following the war, Lee continued his education in Great Britain at, first, the London School of Economics and then, at the University of Cambridge. Despite being admitted to the English Bar, he returned to Singapore in 1949 and served as a legal adviser to several trade unions, negotiating higher wages and other benefits.

Lee established the People’s Action Party (PAP) in 1954 and served as its Secretary-General. Lee became an elected representative of one of the poorest Chinese districts in Singapore after a new constitution in 1955 came into effect. He was then selected to take part in a delegation that would eventually negotiate Singapore’s self-rule with Great Britain.

On June 5, 1959, two days after Singapore attainted self-government, Lee became its first prime minister.

Under Lee’s leadership, the People’s Action Party remained in power for over a quarter century. Lee was able to create political stability and rapid economic growth during his term by initiating industrialization programs, encouraging foreign direct investment, and establishing a strong health and welfare system with a low cost housing program, and instituting a powerful anti-corruption agency. During a period of 20 years, Singapore’s per capita income grew to be second in Asia only to that of Japan, full employment was attained, and public housing increased from 9% to 81%.

In 1988, Lee retired from office, although he held the prime minister position until 1990. Lee remained in the cabinet as Senior Minister until 2011. He still retains his seat in Parliament. Lee’s son, Lee Hsien Loong, recently became the 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore in 2004.

“Lee Kuan Yew.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004 www.encyclopedia.com 15 September 2011

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V. Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967) Yoshida Shigeru was born on September 22, 1878 in Tokyo, Japan.

Yoshida served as Prime Minister of Japan during the Allied occupation after World War II. He is known for his pro-American policies and his comment that if his people were “good losers,” then they could regain in peace all that they had lost during the war.

In 1881, Yoshida was adopted by a wealthy businessman and his wife. He attended the prominent Tokyo Imperial University to study law and graduated in 1906 before going into the foreign ministry. His first diplomatic post was in a consular office in Manchuria, but he was soon appointed to other posts in Europe and the U.S. Twenty years later, Yoshida became Japan’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs (192830). However, in 1936, his appointment was vetoed by the military, and he became the Ambassador to Great Britain instead. His interest in the British political system and fluent English made him a strong candidate for negotiating with the Americans after Japan’s surrender, despite having been previously jailed by the military for advocating an early peace settlement with the Allies near the end of the war.

Yoshida replaced his purged predecessor, Hatoyama Ichiro, as President of the Liberal Party and, shortly after, assumed the position of Japan’s Forty-Fifth Prime Minister on May 22, 1946.

Although generally pro-American/British, Yoshida understood the Japanese people’s need for gradual change and worked to protect the tradition of the imperial family, thereby delaying liberal reforms. He established an autocratic style of government in order to adopt a new constitution, implement massive land reform, build up the Police Reserve Force (later to become Japan’s Self-Defense Forces), and successfully negotiate the peace treaty, which officially ended World War II, and the U.S.-Japan Security Pact.

Japan’s close alignment with the U.S. in international affairs and security as well as its focus on economic advancement became known as the “Yoshida Doctrine.” This doctrine was the corner stone of Japan’s foreign policy during the Cold War and jump-started the war-weary country’s miraculous economic growth for the next three decades.

“Yoshida Shigeru (Prime Minister of Japan).” Britannica Online Encyclopedia. www.britannica.com 15 September 2011

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VI. Suggested Readings 1) Deng Xiaoping a. Shambaugh, David L. Deng Xiaoping: Portrait of a Chinese Statesman. (New York: Claredon, 1995). b. Yang, Benjamin. Deng: A Political Biography. (Armon, NY: ME Sharpe, 1998).

2) Ho Chi Minh a. Duiker, William J. The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam. (Boulder: Westview, 1996). b. Duiker, William J. Ho Chi Minh: A Life. (New York: Theia Books, 2000).

3) Kim Il Sung a. Martin, Bradley. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty.

(Thomas Dunne Books, 2004.) b. Oberdorfer, Don. The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. (New York: Perseus Books, 2001).

4) Lee Kuan Yew a. Lee, Kuan Yew. Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going. (Singapore: Straits Times, 2011.) b. Lee, Kuan Yew. The Singapore Story: Memoires of Lee Kuan Yew. (New York: Prentice Hall, 1998).

5) Yoshida Shigeru a. Dower, John W. Empire and Aftermath: Yoshida Shigeru and the Japanese Experience, 1954-1978.

(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988 Reprint). b. Yoshida, Shigeru. Yoshida Shigeru: Lost Meiji Man. (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007 Reprint).

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