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

198 • OPEN DOOR
most respected private universities. See also MEIJI ERA; MEIJI
RESTORATION.
OPEN DOOR. The Open Door informed American policies vis-à-vis
China and Japan throughout much of the first half of the 20th century.
As originally envisaged, the Open Door rested on two main principles:
China’s territorial integrity should be preserved; and all nationals
should receive equality of treatment in their economic pursuits in
China. For many years, the Open Door remained little more than a
principle, with no indication that Washington was prepared to use
force in its defense.
The concept of the Open Door grew out of 19th-century imperial
rivalries that threatened to carve China into colonies and exclusive
spheres of interest. It was formalized by Secretary of State John
Hay’s Open Door notes of 1899 and 1900, and resurfaced intermittently
over the ensuing years, usually in response to Japanese efforts
to shut the door on American business interests in northeastern
China. Then, at the Washington Conference of 1921–1922, the
United States, Britain, and Japan signed a treaty in which they explicitly
undertook to respect China’s sovereignty as well as the principle
of “equal opportunity for the commerce and industry of all nations
throughout the territory of China.” In other words, the Open
Door had become a treaty commitment.
Through the 1930s, the Open Door continued to provide American
policymakers with a point of reference in their efforts to devise a response
to Japanese aggressions in China. Then, in April 1941, Secretary
of State Cordell Hull informed ambassador Kichisaburō Nomura
that diplomatic rapprochement between their two nations would
have to conform to several principles, included among which were respect
for all nations’ territorial integrity and sovereignty, and support
of the principle of equality of commercial opportunity. In other words,
the principle of the Open Door had shifted away from its exclusive
emphasis on China, and instead had become the benchmark of American
policies toward all nations. Washington did not shift from this
commitment to the Open Door throughout 1941, and Japan was
equally stubborn in its refusal to acquiesce in the principle.
In this sense, the Pacific War was fought over two conflicting visions
of the future of East Asia. On the one hand, the United States