"How World War II Memory Shapes Today's Asian Power Contest"
San Francisco System
US-led network of bilateral alliances in Asia built around the 1951 peace treaty with Japan.
Yalta System
US-Soviet arrangement shaping European security order after World War II.
World War II produced two rival victor mythologies that still structure global order: the Yalta System, built around US-Soviet management of European security, and the San Francisco System, built around the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco, which placed defeated Japan at the centre of a US-led alliance network across Asia. The UN Charter still carries so-called enemy state clauses in Articles 53 and 107, which formally label Japan, Germany and Italy as wartime enemies even though the UN itself agreed decades ago that these clauses are obsolete.
India's own freedom movement was deeply divided over the war, which is why this history sits awkwardly in Indian memory. The Congress opposed Britain dragging India into the war without consultation and launched the Quit India Movement in 1942. The Communist Party of India initially opposed the war but reversed its position after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Subhas Chandra Bose took the opposite path, seeking Axis help and building the Indian National Army (INA) with Japanese backing. This effort did not start from scratch: Rash Behari Bose, earlier associated with the Ghadar Party's failed uprising plan, had already relocated to Japan and organised the Indian Independence League there, which later became the institutional base Subhas Chandra Bose used to build the INA.
A key historical distinction is being blurred in current politics. Washington's wartime partner was the Republic of China (RoC) under Chiang Kai-shek, which now survives as Taiwan, not the People's Republic of China (PRC), founded by Mao Zedong only in 1949. When Beijing claims the mantle of a WWII victor ally of the US, it is folding the RoC's wartime record into the PRC's own legitimacy, which is precisely what Taiwanese officials call narrative diplomacy.
The Chinese Communist Party's own account of the war has itself shifted over time. During the Mao era, the subject was uncomfortable because Chiang's Nationalist forces did most of the conventional fighting against Japan. …
Consider the following freedom fighters:
1.Barindra Kumar Ghosh
2.Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee
3.Rash Behari Bose
Who of the above was/were actively associated with the Ghadar Party?
Consider the following statements about the 'San Francisco System':
1.It refers to the network of US bilateral alliances in Asia built around the 1951 peace treaty with Japan.
2.It placed Japan at the centre of US strategy in the Asia-Pacific region.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
With reference to World War II and its aftermath in Asia, match List-I with List-II:
List-I:
1.Republic of China (RoC)
2.People's Republic of China (PRC)
3.UN Charter's 'enemy state' clauses
4.Quit India Movement
List-II:
A.Founded in 1949 under Mao Zedong
B.Launched in 1942 against unilateral British war involvement
C.Target Japan, Germany and Italy
D.WWII Allied partner led by Chiang Kai-shek, survives as Taiwan
Which organisation, formed by Indian nationalists in Japan and Southeast Asia during World War II, later provided the institutional base for the Indian National Army under Subhas Chandra Bose?
Consider the following statements regarding India's national movement during World War II:
1.The Indian National Congress launched the Quit India Movement in protest against India's involvement in the war without consultation.
2.The Communist Party of India opposed the war throughout its entire duration.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Assertion (A): India's contribution to the Allied war effort in World War II received little recognition in shaping the post-war global order.
Reason (R): India was still under British colonial rule during World War II and had no independent representation among the Allied victors.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
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