The
two superpowers, USA and Russia have a long history together trying to compete to be the
world’s biggest superpower. In fact, tension between the two countries still remain to
this day! History such as the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Space Race all
are leading factors to why the USA and Russia seem to dislike each other. The Cold War began
after World War II and was more or less a long period of tension between the two biggest
superpowers at the time which were the USA and USSR. At the time Russia, known collectively
as the Soviet Union (USSR), had different ideas about economics and government compared
to America. The Soviet Union was a Communist country whereas the USA is a capitalist country.
Although the two superpowers never officially declared war on each other, it was still a
time of great tension and a face-off that nearly ended in nuclear war.
The rivalry between China and Tibet is quite a tricky one because on the one hand, you
have the Tibetans who say that their country is an independent nation and on the other
hand, you have the Chinese Government who says Tibet is part of China. The turning point
in Tibet's history came in 1949, when the People's Liberation Army of the People’s
Republic of China first crossed into Tibet. After defeating the small Tibetan army, the
Chinese Government imposed the so-called "Seventeen-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet"
on the Tibetan Government in May 1951. This treaty gave the Tibetans no choice but to
cede sovereignty to China. As lawyer and visiting professor Michael van Walt rightly said: “From
a legal standpoint, Tibet has to this day not lost its statehood. It is an independent
state under illegal occupation.”
China pops up in this list again but this time with Japan. Although the two countries
are trade partners for business reasons alone, they do have a long history of hatred towards
each other, most famously for Japan’s involvement in the rape of Nanking. In late 1937, over
a period of six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands
of people–including both soldiers and civilians–in the Chinese city of Nanking. It was estimated
that 20,000 – 80,000 woman were sexually assaulted. More recently, ties between China
and Japan have been strained by a territorial row over a group of islands, known as the
Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China. These are the same islands but are
known by different names by the two countries. Japan says it surveyed the islands for 10
years in the 19th Century and determined that they were uninhabited. On 14 January 1895,
Japan erected a sovereignty marker and formally incorporated the islands into Japanese territory.
However, China says that the islands have been part of its territory since ancient times,
serving as important fishing grounds administered by the province of Taiwan.
India and Pakistan have a long and complicated history with each other. Their rivalry began
in 1947 when the two countries became independent from Britain. When British India became independent,
it was supposed to be divided into two parts. Areas where 75% or more Muslim resided were
supposed to become Pakistan and the rest India. However, the Princely state which is Kashmir
was not included so it was left up to the Princely to decide whether they wanted to
join India or Pakistan. The Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh Dogra decided to keep its status
and became an independent state. This decision did not please Pakistan so they sent tribal
lashkars. The Indian Government saw Pakistan’s actions as a sign of invasion so they sent
out troops to help defend Kashmir. As a result, the first war broke out between India and
Pakistan involving Kashmir. In total, India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir.
Animosity has always been prominent with the two neighbouring countries of North Korea
and South Korea. On the one hand, you have a country that is a communist state and a
dictatorship and on the other hand, you have a country which is a democratic republic.
The tensions between the two countries grew when the ongoing Cold War between the USA
and the USSR caused the two countries to fight, The USA backing up South Korea and the USSR
backing up North Korea. As communism was growing in the Far East with the likes of China joining
communism in 1949, the USA developed the “domino theory” - the idea that, if one country
fell to communism, others would follow like a row of dominoes. So, after North Korea got
support from Russia and China, they invaded South Korea which led the USA to intervene
as North Korea easily defeated the Republic of Korea’s army. Still to this day, the
vast differences between the two countries are enough for any sort of conflict to appear
out of the blue. Let’s just hope that’s not the case. It also doesn’t help that
North Korea has a crazy dictator that is willing to do anything he can to appear the more dominant
country.