UCLA Center for East
Asian Studies
Today in Asian History
January 30
1902 Japan and Britain formed an alliance to oppose Russian expansionism and to protect Japanese and British privileges in China. The alliance agreement was signed. The agreement provided that Japan and Britain would support the other if either was engaged in a conflict with two or more powers in East Asia. Japan's ambassador to London, Hayashi Tadasu, negotiated the agreement.
1926 Wakatsuki Reijiro took over as Japanese prime minister.
1948 Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi was assassinated. Gandhi was assasinated by a Hindu extremist who opposed his efforts to reconcile Hindus and Muslims in newly independent India. He had only recently ended a fast aimed at ending communal violence. Manas, a site based at UCLA devoted to South Asian history and culture includes a page on Gandhi's life and legacy. Several sites offer quotations from Gandhi's writings and pronouncements. One of these "The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi" (compiled by Prabhu and Rao) is well organized and easy to use.
1964 Political instability continued in South Vietnam as General Nguyen Khanh overthrew General Duong Van Minh.
1968 In dramatic fashion, Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese army launched the Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) offensive. While the offensive was ultimately crushed and the Viet Cong suffered devastating casualties, the offensive's inital size and surprise shocked many. The Viet Cong even managed to briefly seize control of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and televised images of U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in retreat did little to bolster popular confidence (in the U.S. or South Vietnam) in the war effort.
1968 Japanese Prime Minister Sato Eisaku (1964-72) put forward the governments three anti-nuclear principles (hikaku sangensoku). Japan would not possess, produce, or permit into the country any nuclear weapons. Sato explained that Japan would remain under the nuclear umbrella provided by the U.S. A diplomatic stir erupted when it was revealed in the 1980s that the U.S. had regularly brought nuclear weapons into the country aboard its ships.
1972 Pakistan withdrew from the British Commonwealth. Pakistan was angered by the plans of several Commonwealth nations, including Britain and Australia, to recognize the Bangladesh as an independent nation. Bangladesh had only recently split off from Pakistan.
1980 China rejoined the Olympic movement as its team arrived in Lake Placid, New York for the 1980 Winter Games.
1982 Under pressure from the United States and other nations to rein in its expanding trade surplus, Japan removed 67 nontariff barriers to imports.
1998 Japan's Management and Coordination Agency announced that Japan's unemployment rate for the year was 3.4%, a record high for the fourth year in a row.
TheCEAS "Today in Asian History" page was compiled by Clayton Dube. He welcomes your comments and suggestions. Send them to <cdube@isop.ucla.edu>.
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