La politica imperiale britannica in Asia-Pacifico nel 1945: il memorandum Modern China’s Asiatic Empire

At the end of the Second World War, scenarios relating to the future strategy of the British Empire began to be formulated. In this context, a very long memorandum entitled Modern China’s Asiatic Empire, circulated in the Whitehall circles. The document, written by a group of researchers headed by a central figure for Anglo-Saxon geopolitical thinking, Sir Olaf Caroe, identified as future competitor of the British Empire not the Soviet Union but the renewed Chinese power. The strategic indications contained in the text, even though they were considered of great interest, were not followed, nevertheless the document is a source of extreme interest, providing us with a mirror of fears, anxieties and evaluations that seem to speak to the 21st century policymakers.