 Everyone who has seen my channel should know about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance formed in 1949 in North America and West Europe to contain communism. However, this is not the only region of the world that has been trying to do this. States in East and Southeast Asia have also cooperated with the United States to combat the influence of the Soviet Union and China in their continent. Today, formerly Communist China is seeing unprecedented growth in military and economic strength, and its regional rivals and adversaries who also happened to be allied with the United States would rather this growth be contained before falling into the Chinese sphere of influence. So could an Asian version of the NATO alliance appear anytime soon, and what would it look like? East and Southeast Asia has nations that have been allied with the United States and sometimes with each other against the growth of communism. Some of the earliest allies of the United States in the region were Japan and South Korea. Both were occupied by the US after World War II, and after their occupation became pro-western states. The Korean War was a major flashpoint in the Cold War era, and strengthened the relationship of these two states with the West, as they helped to fight the North Koreans and Soviets. However, it should be noted that South Korea does not view Japan very highly due to a strained history of occupation. Nationalist China was also allied with the United States, though their government was pushed to Taiwan in the early 1950s due to the Maoist taking over the mainland. Today, Taiwan is for the most part protected by the American military. Ever since the Philippines declared independence from the United States in 1946, the two countries have shared a pretty strong relationship. With the western Pacific mostly consolidated by American allies, the navies of communist China and the Soviet Union could not really develop to their full extent in that region. So, communism was spread by land. Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam were consolidated into Marxist-Leninist socialist states, though they were allied with the Soviet Union instead of China in the Sino-Soviet split, despite what their geography might suggest. Burma was also a socialist state during the Cold War, though not allied with anyone. During this time, Thailand maintained a strong relationship with the United States, due to communism spreading near the country, and the sinophobic attitudes in the country at the time. Likewise, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia all were allied with the United States throughout the Cold War, and still remain as some of the strongest partners of the superpower in the region. Though Indonesia came relatively close to falling to communism, the first president, Sukarno, kept power in his country by playing the Communist Party of Indonesia and the military off of each other. However, the Communist Party started consolidating power of the state legislature, causing the military, led by pro-western Suharto, to overthrow the government and install a military dictatorship. All of these countries are relatively recent partners of the United States, though, the oldest regional partners of the Anglophone nations of Australia and New Zealand. There are several reasons why an Asian-NATO alliance would be created. The most obvious of these reasons is the growing influence of China. Since effectively switching to capitalism in the 1990s, China has transformed into an industrial powerhouse, with its GDP growing from around $400 billion in 1990 to $14.5 trillion today. Not to mention, the country was one of the only major global economies that grew during 2020. China has become the global exporter, with most of the world's countries now taking in more imports from China than the United States. The Belt and Road Initiative has also expanded China's global influence, as its infrastructure projects abroad give China greater influence on the economies of the countries involved. China's main global partners, or let's say countries that can effectively manipulate without backlash, exist in Africa, Central and South Asia, and a few countries in the Americas. China's military is also growing at unprecedented levels, especially its navy. Being trapped by the United States' island allies, China's aggressive attitudes in the South China Sea and Taiwan shows the nation's desire to break free from this trap and become both a land and naval power. Despite this growth, China experiences two major problems, lack of allies and demographics. You know how I said China can effectively manipulate some countries? Well, the instant China is put into a point of weakness, those countries will turn against China when they get the chance. Also, there is the obvious fact that China just doesn't have many allies. Though the United States may not be the best ally in the world to have, most nations would much rather have at least some autonomy and wealth, rather than China's aggressive attitude towards its own allies. Additionally, nations would rather be on the side with more wealth and power anyway. If China can prove itself in both of these aspects, it may be able to turn more countries to its side. However, they may not be able to do this in the future due to failing demographics. I cringe when people say that lower birth rates leads to greater economic success. Though the short-term family economics may be slightly better, most people overlook the long-term damage that low birth rates can have. If the generation having kids only has a fertility rate of 1.5, the workforce of the next generation is only 75% the size of the previous generation, meaning that fewer younger economic producers will end up paying much more to support a larger population of elderly economic benefactors. Great economic growth is usually supported by higher birth rates. This can be seen with 1800s Europe and North America, and today with countries like Ethiopia, India, and Indonesia. This is the most important problem of lower birth rates, and the only one I will focus on for the sake of time and topic. In the next 30 years, all of Europe and East Asia will experience this impending to economic slowdown as a result. Though richer countries in Western and Central Europe and East Asia will have their economies most likely grind to a halt, they will not experience severe economic decline. However, in ex-communist countries in Eastern Europe and China, the birth rates were artificially reduced before the countries properly industrialized or urbanized. Therefore, the countries neither have stable growth or a stable social security system. As a result, it looks likely that China will have devastating economic collapse sometime in the next 50 years when their awfully low birth rates come back to bite them. A bit of a long-winded way of saying it, but I don't believe China will end up having long-term economic success. Its aggressive foreign relations as of late document how the country is racing against the clock to establish its global influence, so the impending crisis will be somewhat alleviated. In the short term, however, if the adversaries of China want to defend themselves against its influence, it is better that they have a cohesive alliance against its growth. The main reason for NATO to be created was to contain the Soviet Union's influence over Europe, and though NATO is in essence a collection of benefactor nations of the United States military, their success has been marked by greater regional cooperation. In today's world, the most effective allies of the United States are actually in Asia, as unlike Europe, the citizens of these countries are much more willing to fight for their independence and autonomy rather than compromise. I cannot see someone from Malaysia allowing their country to be conquered by the People's Republic of China, though countries in Europe today would be much more willing to compromise with China's advances, until what China tries to do does not benefit their short-term success. The Asian allies are much more loyal to the United States anyway. Countries like France had tendencies to stand with the Soviet Union at times, and oftentimes European countries try to act as independent from American influence, though American allies in Asia are not as critical of their beneficiary while also holding their own militaries instead of solely relying on America's. In the Asia-Pacific region, the country that would most likely be the exception to what I've described is New Zealand, as they are much more similar to America's European allies in terms of its willingness to defend itself, which is not at all. Australia used to be like this, though they have already felt the effects of Chinese influence in their country on a grand scale, unlike the European countries, so the Australians are becoming more willing to stand with their regional partners against China. So which countries would join this alliance? In East Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan would make the northeastern flank, with all nations having a great deal of American military influence. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines would make up the population core of the alliance and the geographic center, with important trade areas like the Malacca straight under their control, and this would be a majorly strategic area to have in the alliance. Australia and New Zealand would join too, with Australia joining to promote regional unity and strength, and New Zealand for convenience. There are two countries that I've neglected throughout this entire video, India and Vietnam. Despite historical differences, both nations today have very strong relations with the United States. India's largest democracy in the world, and its main rival, Pakistan, is allied with China. China is also trying to dam up India's water supply, and the two countries have been adversaries for a while. Though America fought against the current government of Vietnam in the Second Indochina War, also known as the Vietnam War, the country today has strong relations with the United States. This mainly has to do with the common adversary of China, large amounts of Vietnamese immigrants in the United States, and the gradual shift of Vietnam to a more market oriented economy. Finally, the United States will be the main North American member of the alliance. There are two wild card countries that could either decide to join or stay out of the Asian NATO, Thailand and Singapore. Both countries play the influences of America and China off each other, and gain economic gain as a result. I don't really see a reason why either country would join the alliance unless China directly threatened either nation's independence. Additionally, Thailand and the United States have had a strong relationship for a long time. The alliance to be interesting in the respect that it would be the second major alliance in the world led by the United States. Connecting these two alliances would likely result in enhanced cooperation between the Asian NATO and the European NATO. This global network of allies would have massive effects on the global power balance, once again stating the global hegemony of the United States. However, how long such a large military network could last is up for fate to decide, as such a network has never been realized in human history. The alliance would probably be very effective in countering China's naval ambitions, and the alliance would really only need to hold China at bay for a couple decades until the country faces serious economic turmoil as a result of their demographic shifts, and therefore will become much less aggressive and more internally focused. The Asian NATO after this point may become like the European NATO with no major adversaries. There is one factor that I haven't looked into yet and this is the attitudes of Russia towards the alliance. However, that is a topic for another time, probably next week so look out for that. Before I wrap up here, I want to talk a bit about my friend Preston. He has been one of my greatest supporters and has been there since the beginning, sharing my content with tons of new people. Now it is my turn to return the favor and let you all know of his brand new channel, Mic'd Up Math. He has taught me so many things about math and helped me get through calculus this year, so I highly encourage you to watch his videos and subscribe to his channel today. Thank you all for watching. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share this video with all of your friends. Let's get to 5,000 subscribers by September so please share my content with everyone you know. If this can be achieved, expect even better content from this channel. Look out for a Patreon in the coming weeks and I'll see you guys next time.