Editing Far East (section)

==Cultural and geographic meaning==
Significantly, the term evokes cultural as well as geographic separation; the ''Far East'' is not just geographically distant, but also culturally exotic. It never refers, for instance, to the culturally Western nations of Australia and New Zealand, which lie even farther to the east of Europe than East Asia itself. This combination of cultural and geographic subjectivity was well illustrated in 1939 by [[Robert Menzies]], a [[Prime Minister of Australia]]. Reflecting on his country's geopolitical situation with the onset of [[World War II|war]], Menzies commented that: "The problems of the Pacific are different. What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/historical-documents/Pages/volume-02/73-broadcast-speech-by-mr-rg-menzies-prime-minister|title=73 Broadcast Speech |first1= R.G. |last1=Menzies |date=26 April 1939 |website=Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade|access-date=13 October 2023|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320171058/https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/historical-documents/Pages/volume-02/73-broadcast-speech-by-mr-rg-menzies-prime-minister|url-status=live }}</ref>

''Far East'', in its usual sense, is comparable to terms such as the ''[[Orient]]'' ([[Latin]] for "East"), ''[[Eastern world]]'', or simply ''the East'', all of which may refer, broadly, to East and South-East Asia in general. Occasionally, albeit more in the past, the [[Russian Far East]] and [[South Asia]] have been deemed to be part of the Far East.

Commenting on such terms, [[John K. Fairbank]] and [[Edwin O. Reischauer]] (both professors of East Asian Studies at [[Harvard University]]) wrote, in ''East Asia: The Great Tradition'':
{{Blockquote|When Europeans traveled far to the east to reach [[Cathay]], Japan and the [[East Indies|Indies]], they naturally gave those distant regions the general name 'Far East.' Americans who reached China, Japan and Southeast Asia by sail and steam across the Pacific could, with equal logic, have called that area the 'Far West.' For the people who live in that part of the world, however, it is neither 'East' nor 'West' and certainly not 'Far.' A more generally acceptable term for the area is 'East Asia,' which is geographically more precise and does not imply the outdated notion that Europe is the center of the civilized world.<ref name="Reischauer 1960"/>}}

Today, the term remains in the names of some longstanding institutions, including the [[Far Eastern Federal University]] in [[Vladivostok]], [[Far Eastern University]] in [[Manila]], the [[Far East University (Korea)|Far East University]] in South Korea, and ''Far East'', the periodical magazine of the [[Missionary Society of St. Columban]]. Furthermore, the United States and United Kingdom have historically incorporated ''Far East'' in the names of several military units and commands in the region, such as the British [[Royal Navy]]'s [[Far East Fleet]], for instance.