also predominantly Chinese. After the war, the MCP fomented oppo-
sition to the British Military Administration through strikes and
propaganda aimed mainly at the Chinese community. By mid-1948 the
decision had been taken for an armed uprising. In response to growing
terrorism, the British authorities announced a state of emergency.
Vocal support (if little else), from Beijing after 1949 for liberation of
the ‘Malayan races’ only served to exacerbate Malay distrust, despite
being denounced by prominent Chinese leaders in Malaya.
The Malayan Emergency was to last beyond the declaration of
Malayan independence. Though by far the majority of Chinese in Malaya
gave no support to the MCP, the fact that the insurgency was pre-
dominantly a Chinese affair did nothing to improve relations between
Chinese and Malays in the lead up to independence. Two key issues
were citizenship and political representation, about which the Chinese
community as a whole was unhappy. While under Malay law citizen-
ship was automatic for Malays (even if immigrants from Indonesia),
Chinese and Indians had to apply for registration and naturalisation.
This left political control in the hands of the Malays, represented
principally by the United Malays Nationalist Organization (UMNO).
All attempts to form a multiracial party failed. By the time the in-
dependence of the Federation of Malaya was proclaimed in August
1957, an alliance had been struck between UMNO and the Malayan
Chinese Association (with the Malayan Indian Congress a minor
partner) that effectively traded off Malay political dominance against
Chinese economic supremacy. It was hardly surprising that the new
Malayan government refused to establish diplomatic relations with
China.
In Indochina the situation was different again, with much more
direct Chinese intervention in political developments. During the war
years, Japanese troops were stationed throughout Indochina, though
the French administration remained in place. Relations with the
French became fraught only after the liberation of France, when the
Japanese feared an American amphibious attack on coastal Vietnam to
The changing world order