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

16 • INTRODUCTION
Naval disarmament, non-interference in the internal affairs of China,
and peaceful competition for that nation’s markets and resources were
the hallmarks of what became known as the Washington System. All this
was underlined by growing U.S.–Japanese economic interdependence,
which dictated the necessity of friendship as the basic framework of the
two nations’ relations. Nevertheless, there were problems. The United
States Congress in 1924 prohibited Japanese immigration in its entirety
in what is known as the Oriental Exclusion Act. Although politicians and
statesmen on both sides of the Pacific continued to speak of the spirit of
the Washington Conference, there can be little doubt the Oriental Exclusion
Act undermined U.S.–Japanese relations for years to come.
There was also widespread dissatisfaction within Japanese naval circles
with the disarmament system. Led by the impetuous Kanji Katō,
these officers opposed Navy Minister (and chief delegate to the Washington
Conference) Tomosaburō Katō’s contention that war with the
United States must be avoided. In 1923, they included in the Imperial
National Defense Policy a statement that war with the United States was
“inevitable.” The revolt against the Washington System simmered
throughout the 1920s, and exploded at the time of the London Naval
Conference of 1930. At that time, the Japanese government—including
the policymaking nucleus within the Navy Ministry—indicated its acceptance
of a formula that sought to extend the naval disarmament system
to incorporate auxiliary vessels. However, Kanji Katō (who by this
time had been appointed chief of the Navy General Staff) remained irreconcilable,
and sparked a months-long struggle that split the Navy.
The rise of nationalism in China presented yet another challenge to
the Washington System. By means of the treaties and agreements concluded
at the Washington Conference, Japan, the United States, and the
other powers regulated their competition in China and the Pacific, but
these agreements did nothing to account for the phenomenon of an
emerging national consciousness in China. Largely interchangeable
with anti-imperialism, this national consciousness was directed against
the Washington system powers. The Chinese were virtually unanimous
in their condemnation of the unequal treaties (fixed tariff and extraterritoriality)
that the powers had forced upon China in the 19th century
and which the Washington Conference perpetuated. Popular boycotts
repeatedly broke out against Western and Japanese business interests in
China. Most disturbingly from Tokyo’s perspective, Chiang Kai-shek,
who by 1929 had succeeded somewhat in unifying China, refused to