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

14 • INTRODUCTION
Manchuria, while Japan recognized American possessions in Hawaii and
the Philippines.
RIVALRY OVER CHINA, 1909–1921
Roosevelt left the presidency in 1909, and with him went any goodwill
generated by the Root–Takahira Agreement. Roosevelt’s hand-picked
successor, William Howard Taft, dispensed with Roosevelt’s policies
and instead chose to challenge Japan’s predominant position in southern
Manchuria. Underlying this policy was the Taft administration’s
faith in the power of the American dollar, as well as a belief in the compatibility
of American and Chinese interests. Generally referred to as
“dollar diplomacy,” this policy’s defining moment came in late 1909,
when an American banking group gained Chinese approval to build a
railway that would run part of the way parallel to Japan’s South
Manchurian line. As if this were not enough to challenge Japan’s position
on the continent, Secretary of State Philander Knox immediately
raised the stakes by proposing that China—replete with funds provided
by a consortium of major powers—buy the Russian-owned railway in
northern Manchuria and Japan’s South Manchurian line. The Japanese
government responded by reaching an agreement with Russia that provided
for cooperation over railways and railway finance in Manchuria.
The British, for their part, refused to climb aboard Knox’s neutralization
scheme. Roosevelt was aghast. Taft had needlessly antagonized the
Japanese, and in the process had driven them into the arms of the Russians.
This phase of dollar diplomacy was as spectacular for its audacity
as for its failure.
U.S.–Japanese relations worsened considerably after the outbreak of
World War I. China was again at issue. Having entered the war ostensibly
as Britain’s ally, Japan fought not for its allies’ survival but for such objectives
as the seizure of German possessions in China and the Pacific, and
ultimately, economic and political hegemony over all of China. In pursuit
of this second objective, Foreign Minister Takaaki Katō in January 1915
handed to Chinese President Yuan Shih-kai the so-called Twenty-One Demands.
The administration of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, which
clung to an ill-defined policy of goodwill and friendship toward China,
protested vigorously. The British, recognizing that their imperial interests