TITLE : Japan and Vietnam's Caodaists: a wartime relationship (1939- 45).

APPEARS IN: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies v27 (n1), p179-193, Mar 1996

SUBJECT :

Cao Dai -- Evaluation.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Occupied territories.
War and religion -- Analysis.
Vietnam -- History.
Japan -- Relations with Vietnam.

DESCRIPTION: ill. (photograph)

ABSTRACT: "The period surrounding World War Two initiated a new chapter in Vietnamese history with Japan playing a considerable part, direct and indirect, in shaping political, economic and social developments within Vietnam. This paper describes the relationship which the Caodaists, members of a religious and political group in Cochinchina which was one of Vietnam's leading nationalist organizations, forged with the Japanese in their pursuit of independence from French. It focuses on the issue of good faith and the sense of collaboration on the part of the Caodaists towards the Japanese throughout the period of Japan's expansion and occupation in Southeast Asia. In the past decade there have been several studies of the Pacific War years relating to Japan's overall policies and military activities towards Indochina, based on Japanese language sources. However, Japanese policy towards religion in Vietnam has received little attention. The purpose of this paper is to bring to the fore a broader and deeper picture of Japanese impact on the Caodaists."

(TRAN MY-VAN, University of South Australia)

This article is available at: Expanded Academic ASAP Int'l Ed.