In West Asia as defined on countryaah, a trouble spot emerged in the Persian Gulf at the beginning of the 1980s, where there was an Iranian-Iraqi war in 1980-88 and a war between Iraq and a US-led international military alliance to liberate the 1990s occupied by Iraqi troops in 1991 Kuwait came (Gulf War). The struggle of the Kurds, whose settlement area is cut up by the borders of several states, for their national independence (»Kurdistan«) developed into an explosive problem.
Turkey, which was striving for a stronger profile as a middle power in West Asia, sought closer ties to the organizational structures of the European Union (1995 conclusion of a customs union, raised EU candidate status in 1999); Azerbaijan to gain influence.
After the Taliban intervened in the Afghan civil war since 1994, they were able to conquer around 90% of the country within a few years; the radical Islamic system of rule they established in Afghanistan met with international rejection. When, after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, there was an American military campaign against the terrorist bases of al-Qaida and judged the Taliban in Afghanistan, most Asian states joined the international anti-terrorist alliance (despite some violent anti-American protests by Islamist forces in individual countries, e.g. in Pakistan and Indonesia); the elimination of the Islamist terror network that spanned numerous other countries was proclaimed as their goal. In connection with the war against terrorism, the USA increased its military presence and its influence in various Asian countries. Despite the lack of a UN mandate, an American-British military intervention in Iraq took place in 2003, which led to the overthrow of Saddam Husain’s regimeled. In addition, the United States increased pressure in the region on Syria and (the nuclear program operator) Iran. In 2015, an agreement on the nuclear program was concluded with Iran.
While the civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, Afghanistan, Korea, the Middle East and Pakistan in particular remained trouble spots for international politics. China’s striving for power led to tensions with Japan in the disputed sea area of the East China Sea.
In spring 2011 v. a. Bahrain, Yemen and Syria became the scene of protest movements against the ruling regimes as part of the Arab Spring. A bloody civil war developed in Syria, which, combined with a refugee disaster, steadily escalated until 2017. The power-political rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the military intervention by Russia in 2015 made it difficult to resolve the conflict. Yemen was also destabilized by an internal conflict in which a military alliance of Arab states intervened in 2015. In addition, the attacks by the terrorist organization Islamic State in 2014/15 also endangered the crisis states Iraq and Syria.
Economic developments and regional cooperation: In addition to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and (the then British crown colony) Hong Kong rose to become important economic powers in East and Southeast Asia (“tiger states”, sometimes called “four little dragons”); Soon afterwards there was also a strong economic upswing in other Asian countries (since the 1980s in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand), which – after Japan was confronted with a long-term economic crisis from 1989 onwards – was ended by the Asian banking and economic crisis 1997 temporarily suffered a severe setback in numerous countries, in some cases with political consequences (including the overthrow of the Suharto government in Indonesia). Considerable (also noticeable in the western industrialized nations) economic, among other things. The end of 2002 from southern China and 2003 further, v. a. lung disease encompassing Asian states SARS, as well as the tsunamis- triggered flood disaster of December 26, 2004, which affected most of the South and Southeast Asian countries bordering the Indian Ocean (especially Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand) and which triggered an unprecedented international relief effort. An international crisis summit on January 6, 2005 in Jakarta decided to set up a tsunami early warning system for the region and to coordinate aid measures and reconstruction by the UN. Despite these setbacks, Asia is now considered the world’s most important growth region. In 2009, the PR China advanced to become the world’s leading export nation.
Although an all-Asian alliance has not yet emerged (partly because of the extraordinary heterogeneity of the states and the diversity of their interests), various forms of regional and supraregional cooperation have increasingly emerged since the 1960s. ASEAN was established in 1967. In 1983 the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and in 1989 the APEC (for the Asia-Pacific region). The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which has been held regularly since 1996, was launched with the aim of improving economic, political and cultural cooperation with Europe. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001, and in 2005 ASEAN cooperated with other countries as part of the East Asia Summit. In 2015, the founding act of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was signed in Beijing.
