Sino-Japanese War Dbq

It is essential to understand how China, Japan and Korea, were perceived and they themselves perceived in the first Sino-Japanese War. Chinese understanding of Japanese politics and diplomacy was limited to aggression and deceit. After Japanese attack on China, China was successful in grabbing the world-opinion and Japan's use of armed force in China was unjustifiable. Japan, which was initially perceived as the most industrialized countries, changed the Western perception after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5. Japan’s refusal to participate in the Brussels Conference of the Nine Powers annoyed international community. Moreover, being offended by Japan’s claim of China as a Monroe Doctrine for Asia, as America's Monroe Doctrine for Latin America, U.S. claimed Japan’s Monroe doctrine for Asia, unlike American Monroe Doctrine, as a destroyer and invader of China.

Japan’s imperial aim was visible to the world and thus the side of China was taken by imposing sanctions against Japan.

Even Japan could not satisfactorily provide a counter reply to U.S.As protest against Japan’s violation of the Open-Door policy on October 6, 1938. On one hand, China viewed that Japan alone was responsible for the war and on the other hand, China also considered the attitude of the Western powers responsible for the war. When Japanese intentions in Korea were clearly visible, the Russian aid to China placed it into Russian hands. Britian, the usual supporter of China, switched to Japan following the victories of China at Pyongyong and on the high seas. Even the 1882 treaty between Korea and the United States was observed as U.S. hidden motives in Korean policies which supported the long-term intentions of Japan. China perceived American duplicity and hypocrisy before and during the peace negotiations at Shimonoseki (Jansen et.al

1979).
For Japan, Sino-Japanese war was a war of imperialism and Japan legitimizes its preference for war with China from the lens of Japanese capitalism of the period. For the development of modern China, war is inevitable. This notion of Japan’s economic and political development drive the claim of Japan’s going into war with China. But the brutal subjugation of Japan’s policy led Japan to win war militarily but not diplomatically as they faced resistance from the Korean people. The Japanese policy was introduced with an aim to fight with China over Korea, to compete with the imperialist powers for the partition of Korea and China, and to conquer the peoples in Korea and Taiwan (Jansen et.al 1979).
The Korean peninsula was viewed as the instigation point for any invasion from the Asian mainland. Although Chinese and Japanese diplomacy of war are discussed, often Korean diplomacy is sidelined. Despite Koreans territory was used as the battlefield, less works done on Korea diplomacy because the war was a shameful experience for Koreans, Korea was not one of the belligerents and the thirty-six years Japanese rule shadowed the individual study of Korean history. As a result, the role of small power Korea in challenging China and Japan, and mediating the Western powers, is not well studied (Jansen et.al 1979).