SINO-JAPANESE WAR

SINO-JAPANESE WAR. The eruption of war between China and Japan in 1894 did not directly involve the United States, but the resulting regional instability spurred the Cleveland administration to intervene diplomatically. Although it would not formulate the Open Door policy until 1899, Washington feared European powers would exploit for their own economic benefit the instability caused by the Sino-Japanese rivalry. Thus, the United States had rejected British overtures for foreign intervention to prevent the war. Once hostilities began, however, Washington advised Japan to moderate its ambitions in Asia or face international condemnation. In 1895 the Cleveland administration's efforts succeeded in bringing Japan and China to the peace table.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beisner Robert L. From the Old Diplomacy to the New, 1865–1900. New York: Crowell, 1975.

McCormick, Thomas J. China Market: America's Quest for Informal Empire, 1893–1901. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1967.

Foster RheaDulles/a. g.

See alsoChina, Relations with ; Diplomatic Missions ; Japan, Relations with ; Trade, Foreign .

Sino-Japanese Wars Two wars between China and Japan, marking the beginning and end of Japanese imperial expansion on the Asian mainland. The first (1894–95) arose from rivalry for control of Korea. In 1894, Japanese influence helped to provoke a rebellion in Korea. Both states intervened, and Japanese troops swiftly defeated the Chinese. China was forced to accept Korean independence, and ceded territory including Taiwan and the Liaotung peninsula. The latter was returned after European pressure. The second war (1937–45) developed from Japan's seizure of Manchuria (1931), where it set up the puppet state of Manchukuo. Further Japanese aggression led to war, in which the Japanese swiftly conquered e China, driving the government out of Peking (Beijing). The US and UK despatched aid to China (1938), and the conflict merged into World War 2, ending with the final defeat of Japan in 1945.