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

40 • ANSEI TREATIES
seal Korea’s fate as a Japanese colony. At the same time, the alliance
ensured that, in the event of war with Russia, Japan could rely on
benevolent neutrality on the part of Britain and on active British participation
should a fourth power enter the war on Russia’s side.
In August 1905, the terms were revised and broadened so as to provide
for the defense of British interests in India and a more precise
recognition of Japan’s hegemony in Korea, and its term was extended
to 10 years. The advantages for Britain, which, from 1905 onward,
withdrew its battleships from the Far East so as to meet the emerging
threat of Germany, were obvious. Fresh from its victory over Russia,
Japan, too, regarded the renewed alliance a triumph. Not only would
the alliance secure Japan against diplomatic isolation, but it also
oversaw the rise of Japan to a position as the dominant naval power
in the Far East.
The third Anglo–Japanese agreement of 13 July 1911 was a considerably
weaker treaty than those that preceded it. Britain was increasingly
anxious to cement its deepening ties with the United
States, and was well aware that that nation had become vaguely suspicious
of Japan. The terms of the alliance thus excluded the United
States from its purview, which meant that Britain would not militarily
aid its ally in the event of a Japanese–American war. The growing
weakness of the alliance was clearly evidenced after the outbreak of
World War I. At a time when British attentions were entirely focused
on the defeat of Germany, Japan pursued policy objectives in China
that were clearly to the detriment of British interests.
It was hardly surprising that negotiations for drawing up revised
terms of the alliance, which was liable to lapse in 1921, never eventuated.
Instead, at the Washington Conference of 1921–1922, a
Four-Power Convention was signed between the United States, Great
Britain, Japan, and France. Far short of a military alliance, it committed
the contracting parties to nothing more than consultations in
the event of difficulties. With the exchange of ratifications on 17 August
1923, the Anglo–Japanese Alliance came to an end.
ANSEI TREATIES. Beginning with the U.S.–Japan Treaty of Amity
and Commerce finalized by Townsend Harris and Naosuke Ii in
July 1858, the Ansei Treaties include similar treaties agreed to between
Japan and Holland, Britain, France, and Russia by October