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

China under Japanese control, the Twenty-One Demands incurred
not only the wrath of Chinese nationalism, but also the displeasure of
the United States. By the demands, Japan would acquire all German
rights in the Shantung peninsula; receive vast concessions in South
Manchuria and Inner Mongolia; control a rich iron and coal company
in central China; and obtain essential control of Fukien province. The
final set of demands, which were only added after it was realized that
negotiations were in the offing, included a provision for the employment
of Japanese political, financial, and military advisers by the
Chinese government. This is last set of demands, in particular, would
have resulted in substantial infringements on Chinese sovereignty.
By May 1915, the Japanese government dropped the last of these demands,
and the Yuan government signed a series of treaties incorporating
the remaining demands.
One of the last surviving genrō, Aritomo Yamagata, was opposed
to this policy, questioning whether it would promote Sino–Japanese
relations and fearing that it might incur the wrath of the great naval
powers. He was right on both counts. Virulent anti-Japanese sentiment
was aroused in China, and this was harmful to Japanese trade
with that country. Moreover, the reaction of the United States—
which, unlike Britain, was not wholly engaged in defeating the Germans
in Europe and thus was in a position to do something about
Japan’s frankly expansionist maneuvering in China—confirmed Yamagata’s
fears of a great naval power response. Lodging a strong
protest, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan warned the
Japanese that the United States would not recognize any actions that
“violated Chinese sovereignty.” Although this protest was not backed
by the threat of force, it was enough to force Katō to drop the most
extreme of his original demands. In the longer term, the Twenty-One
Demands left many Americans with a fundamental distrust of Japanese
objectives in China.
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UCHIMURA, KANZO • 249
UCHIMURA, KANZO (1861–1930). He studied at the Sapporo Agricultural
College (now known as Hokkaido University) and became a
Christian, along with Inazo Nitobe. From 1884 to 1888, Uchimura