A factor which led to the Cold War spreading to the Far East in the years 1949-53 is the decline of European imperialism . Vietnam had been part of French Indochina until it had been seized by the Japanese during the Second World War. The French tried to regain control over former colonies .the USA were strongly opposed to imperialism and critical of the overseas empires ruled by European power.the countries of Europe no longer had the resources to run vast empires after WW2,this posed a problems to the USA and this could be the reason for the expansion as if France did not regain control over Indochina, it would be taken into the soviets union power vacuum to spread communism .In Vietnam the forces of nationalism and communism were combined by the Vietminh, led by the communist honcho Minh. Moreover Vietnam being positioned by south of china meant they were to receive assistance from Mao's communist in 1949 this therefore meant that communism was more likely to spread as Vietnam would need assistance ,by manipulating them in this way they are able to spread the belief of communism by making them on their side.

The defeat of Japan in the Second World War was also another factor for the Cold War spreading to the Far East between 1949 and 1953 as the defeat of Japan had left much of china without any form of control, the communists were successful in quickly gaining a hold of these areas and by 1949 were strong enough to push the nationalists out of mainland china. As well as this Korea were also to be taken in by the soviets. Another factor which could be taken into consideration for the Cold War spreading into the Far East is because of the growth of nationalism . Reasons for this could be that the fact that communism had its roots in nationalist sentiment in overthrowing foreigners who exploited them their country for their own