Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

162 • LANSING–ISHII AGREEMENT
writing Life and Resources in America. In 1883, Lanman published
Leading Men of Japan, With a Historical Summary of the Empire. For
several years, Lanman and his wife, Adeline, were also the host family
for Umeko Tsuda, who first arrived to live and study in the United
States with the Iwakura Mission in 1871.
LANSING–ISHII AGREEMENT (1917). The name given to the exchange
of formal notes between envoy Kikujirô Ishii and U.S. Secretary
of State Robert Lansing in November 1917. Against the backdrop
of deep differences over the two nations’ policies toward China,
the Lansing–Ishii agreement represented a bargain whereby the
United States recognized Japan’s dominant role in China in exchange
for promises of moderation.
From the outset, Lansing asked Ishii to reaffirm the Open Door
and to disavow closed spheres of influence in China. Aware that his
government had cemented its hold over Manchuria through a series
of secret pacts with the European nations, Ishii refused. He argued instead
that Japan’s rights in China resembled U.S. rights under the
Monroe Doctrine: they “exist regardless of the recognition of other
nations.” Japan wanted recognition as well of its “paramount interests”
in Manchuria.
For his part, Lansing was unwilling to recognize Japan’s “paramount
interests” in Manchuria. The implications—the entire China
market could in time become a Japanese-controlled area if “paramount
interests” were admitted—were too great. Instead, Lansing
handed Ishii a letter on 2 November that declared that “territorial
propinquity creates special relations” between countries. In return,
Ishii declared his government’s continued adherence to the policy of
respecting the independence and territorial integrity of China and the
preservation there of the Open Door for commerce and industry.
The agreement nonetheless failed to define the meaning of the
Open Door or the nature of Japan’s “special interests.” Japan interpreted
it to signify recognition of its preeminent position politically,
as well as economically in China, but the United States maintained
that it merely had recognized that Japan had special geographical relations
to its huge neighbor.
LAW ON A SITUATION IN THE AREAS SURROUNDING
JAPAN. Based on the stipulation of the Guidelines for U.S.–Japan