Negotiations Over the Twenty-One Demands

When the First World War broke out, in order to defeat Germany, Britain counted on its ally, Japan, for assistance in the Far East, but it had to prevent Japan from dominating the region because it did not want Japan’s intervention to jeopardize its own interests. Japan saw the First World War as a unique opportunity to expand its sphere of influence in China. As the Anglo-Japanese alliance was still in operation, Japan wanted to use it to enter the war and to eventually dominate East Asia by taking advantage of the British power. This was a basic policy that applied to Japanese relations with Great Britain. As the nation with predominant interests in China, Britain’s strategy toward East Asia during the First World War was to preserve the status quo between China and Japan because if they engaged in conflict, British interests there would be placed in jeopardy. During the negotiations over the Twenty-One Demands between China and Japan, Britain’s tacit connivance toward Japan and pressure on China were centered on this policy. What was the British Foreign Office’s perception of the Japanese desire to completely dominate China in light of the Anglo-Japanese alliance’s existence? How did Britain respond when Japan’s desire clashed with its interests in China? We may arrive at better answers by looking through the British Foreign Office’s records.