Bamboo curtain

The bamboo curtain is a political demarcation between the communist states of East Asia, particularly the People's Republic of China, and the capitalist states of East, South, and Southeast Asia. To the north and northwest lay the communist states of China, Russia (the Soviet Union before 1991), North Vietnam, North Korea, and the Mongolian People's Republic. To the south and east lay the capitalist and non-communist countries of India, Pakistan, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau. Before the Indochina Wars the non-communist bloc included French Indochina and its successor states South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. However, after the wars the new countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Democratic Kampuchea became communist states. In particular, following the Korean War, the Korean Demilitarized Zone became an important symbol of this Asian division (though the term bamboo curtain itself is rarely used in that specific context).