Wars Hot and Cold: A Turning of Tables

Resistance to Japanese maritime pressure cost China defeat in the first Sino-Japanese War, loss of insular/vassal territory, and sovereign rights. Treaty-impositions injected Japan’s progressive dominion. Violent suppression by foreign forces of the ‘Boxer Rebellion,’ republican revolts ending dynastic rule, and internal divisions fragmented China. Washington inducted its Japanese protégé into ‘great-power’ ranks via naval and disarmament talks. Japan’s Manchurian invasion via ‘the Mukden IncidentMukden Incident,’ and the League of Nations’ inquiry, exposed Japan’s predation of China, and Treaty PowersTreaty Powers’ encroachments on China’s sovereignty and independence. After Tokyo’s Pearl Harbour strikes, USG, confronting Japanese revisionism, promoted Chiang Kai-shek’sChiang Kai-shek Republic in the ‘United Nations.’ The USA’s Pacific War, with nuclear strikes forcing Japan to surrender, reversed China’s status.