Foreign Policy in the Meiji Period

27.2.8: Foreign Policy in the Meiji Period

Victories over China and Russia, alliance with Britain, and annexation of Korea allowed Japan of the Meiji pioerd to become a leader in East Asia and a highly respected military power among the most influential countries in the world.

Learning Objective

Characterize the foreign policy goals of the Japanese government in the Meiji period

Key Points

  • Meiji Japan’s foreign policy was shaped by its need to reconcile its Asian identity with its desire for status and security in an international order dominated by the West. The principal foreign policy goals of the Meiji period (1868–1912) were to protect the integrity and independence of Japan against Western domination, including gaining international respect through the modernization and expansion of the military.
  • Japan’s unequal status was symbolized by the treaties imposed on the country when it was forcefully opened to foreign influences. Many social and institutional reforms of the Meiji period were designed to remove the stigma of backwardness and inferiority. The major task of Meiji diplomacy was to press for the revision of the unequal treaties.
  • The newly created military was used to extend Japanese power overseas as many leaders believed that national security depended on expansion and not merely a strong defense. In 1873 and 1874, friction came about between China and Japan over Taiwan. Later, after Japan’s victory in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–95, the peace treaty ceded the island to Japan. Perhaps most importantly, Japan gained enormous prestige by being the first non-Western country to operate a modern colony.
  • In 1894, China and Japan went to war over Korea in the First Sino-Japanese War. The 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki recognized Korean independence, established indemnity to Korea from China, and ceded Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, although Japan gave back Liaodong in return for a larger indemnity from China under the pressure of Russia, Germany, and France. Ironically, in the wake of the later Russo-Japanese War, Japan forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Protective Treaty, which made Korea a protectorate of Japan. In 1910, Korea was formally annexed to the Japanese empire.
  • Japan also succeeded in attracting a Western ally to its cause. Japan and Britain, both of whom wanted to keep Russia out of Manchuria, signed the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Alliance in 1902. This recognized Japanese interests in Korea and assured Japan they would remain neutral in case of a Russo-Japanese war, but would become more actively involved if another power (an allusion to France) entered the war as a Russian ally. In the following Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), Japan won possession of southern Sakhalin and a position of paramount influence in Korea and southern Manchuria.
  • U.S.-Japanese relations at the time were shaped by anti-Japanese sentiment, especially on the West Coast, and an eventual informal Gentlemen’s Agreement  of 1907 assured Japan the U.S. would not bar Japanese immigration if Japan ensured little or no movement to the U.S. The agreement also rescinded the segregation order of the San Francisco School Board in California, which had humiliated and angered the Japanese.

Key Terms

First Sino-Japanese War
An 1894 – 1895 war fought between the Qing Empire of China and the Empire of Japan, primarily over influence of Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the Chinese port of Weihaiwei, the Qing government sued for peace in February 1895. For the first time, regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan.
Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Alliance
A 1902 treaty signed by Lord Lansdowne (British foreign secretary) and Hayashi Tadasu (Japanese minister in London). A diplomatic milestone that saw an end to Britain’s splendid isolation, the treaty was renewed and expanded in scope twice, in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in 1921. It was officially terminated in 1923.
Triple Intervention
A diplomatic intervention by Russia, Germany, and France in 1895 over the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed between Japan and Qing Dynasty China that ended the First Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese reaction against the Triple Intervention was one of the underlying causes of the subsequent Russo-Japanese War.
Russo-Japanese War
A 1904 – 1905 war between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theaters of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea.
Treaty of Shimonoseki
An 1895 treaty between the Empire of Japan and the Qing Empire, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. It accomplished several things: recognition of Korean independence, cessation of Korean tribute to China, a 200 million tael (Chinese ounces of silver, the equivalent in 1895 of US $150 million) indemnity to Korea from China, cession of Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, and opening of Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) ports to Japanese trade.
unequal treaty
A term applied to any of a series of treaties signed with Western powers during the 19th century by late Tokugawa Japan after suffering military defeat by the foreign powers or threat of military action by those powers. The term is also applied to treaties imposed during the same time period on late Joseon Korea by the Meiji era Empire of Japan.

 

 

Goals of Meiji Foreign Policy

Meiji Japan’s foreign policy was shaped at the outset by the need to reconcile its Asian identity with desire for status and security in an international order dominated by the West. The principal foreign policy goals of the Meiji period (1868–1912) were to protect the integrity and independence of Japan against Western domination and win equal status with the leading nations of the West by reversing the unequal treaties. Because fear of Western military power was the chief concern for the Meiji leaders, their highest priority was building up the military, an important objective of which was to gain the respect of the Western powers and achieve equal status in the international community.

Japan’s unequal status was symbolized by the treaties imposed when the country was first forcefully opened to foreign influences. The treaties were objectionable to the Japanese not only because they imposed low fixed tariffs on foreign imports and thus handicapped domestic industries, but also because their provisions gave a virtual monopoly of external trade to foreigners and granted extraterritorial status to foreign nationals in Japan, exempting them from Japanese jurisdiction and placing Japan in the inferior category of nations incapable of determining their own laws. Many of the social and institutional reforms of the Meiji period were designed to remove the stigma of backwardness and inferiority represented by the unequal treaties, and a major task of Meiji diplomacy was to press for the revision of the treaties.

 

Overseas Expansion

The newly created military was used to extend Japanese power overseas as many leaders believed that national security depended on expansion and not merely a strong defense. In 1873 and 1874, friction came about between China and Japan over Taiwan, particularly when the Japanese launched a punitive expedition into Taiwan in the wake of the killing of several Okinawans by Taiwanese aborigines. Later, after Japan’s victory in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–95, the peace treaty ceded the island to Japan. The Japanese realized that its home islands could only support a limited resource base and hoped that Taiwan, with its fertile farmlands, would make up the shortage. By 1905, Taiwan was producing significant amounts of rice and sugar. Perhaps more importantly, Japan gained enormous prestige by being the first non-Western country to operate a modern colony. To maintain order, Japan installed a police state.

The Korean Peninsula, a strategically located feature critical to the defense of the Japanese archipelago, occupied Japan’s attention in the 19th century. Earlier tension over Korea had been settled temporarily through the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876, which opened Korean ports to Japan, and through the Tianjin Convention in 1885, which provided for the removal from Korea of both Chinese and Japanese troops sent to support contending factions in the Korean court. In effect, the convention made Korea a co-protectorate of Beijing and Tokyo at a time when Russian, British, and American interests in the peninsula were also increasing.

In 1894, China and Japan went to war over Korea in the First Sino-Japanese War. After nine months of fighting, a cease-fire was called and peace talks were held. The eventual Treaty of Shimonoseki accomplished several things: recognition of Korean independence, cessation of Korean tribute to China, a 200 million tael (Chinese ounces of silver, the equivalent in 1895 of US$150 million) indemnity to Korea from China, cession of Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, and opening of Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) ports to Japanese trade. It also assured Japanese rights to engage in industrial enterprises in China. Ironically, a decade after the Treaty of Shimonoseki forced China to recognize Korean independence, Japan, in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War, effectively forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Protective Treaty, which made it a protectorate of Japan. In 1910, Korea was formally annexed to the Japanese empire, beginning a period of Japanese colonial rule of Korea that would not end until 1945.

Signing of the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki: The Triple Intervention triggered by signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki is regarded by many Japanese historians as a crucial turning point in Japanese foreign affairs. The nationalist, expansionist, and militant elements began to join ranks and steer Japan from a foreign policy based mainly on economic hegemony toward outright imperialism.

Western Response

Immediately after the terms of the treaty became public, Russia—with its own designs and sphere of influence in China—expressed concern about Japanese acquisition of the Liaodong Peninsula and the possible impact of the terms of the treaty on the stability of China. Russia persuaded France and Germany to apply diplomatic pressure on Japan for return of the territory to China in exchange for a larger indemnity (Triple Intervention). Threatened with a tripartite naval maneuver in Korean waters, Japan decided to give back Liaodong in return for a larger indemnity from China. Russia moved to fill the void by securing from China a 25-year lease of Dalian (Dairen in Japanese, also known as Port Arthur) and rights to the South Manchurian Railway Company, a semi-official Japanese company, to construct a railroad. Russia also wanted to lease more Manchurian territory, and although Japan was loath to confront Russia over this issue, it did move to use Korea as a bargaining point. Japan would recognize Russian leaseholds in southern Manchuria if Russia would leave Korean affairs to Japan. The Russians only agreed not to impede the work of Japanese advisers in Korea, but Japan was able to use diplomatic initiatives to keep Russia from leasing Korean territory in 1899. At the same time, Japan was able to wrest a concession from China that the coastal areas of Fujian Province, across the strait from Taiwan, were within Japan’s sphere of influence and could not be leased to other powers.

Japan also succeeded in attracting a Western ally to its cause. Japan and Britain, both of whom wanted to keep Russia out of Manchuria, signed the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Alliance in 1902, which was in effect until in 1921 when the two signed the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions, which took effect in 1923. The British recognized Japanese interests in Korea and assured Japan they would remain neutral in case of a Russo-Japanese war but would become more actively involved if another power (an allusion to France) entered the war as a Russian ally. In the face of this joint threat, Russia became more conciliatory toward Japan and agreed to withdraw its troops from Manchuria in 1903. The new balance of power in Korea favored Japan and allowed Britain to concentrate its interests elsewhere in Asia. Hence, Tokyo moved to gain influence over Korean banks, opened its own financial institutions in Korea, and began constructing railroads and obstructing Russian and French undertakings on the peninsula.

In response to the alliance, Russia sought to form alliances with France and Germany, which Germany declined. In 1902, a mutual pact was signed between France and Russia. China and the United States were strongly opposed to the alliance. Nevertheless, the nature of the Anglo-Japanese alliance meant that France was unable to come to Russia’s aid in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, as this would mean war with Britain.

 

The cartoon shows a British official and a Japanese official shaking hands. Below the image, a quotation dated October 4, 1905 from Rudyard Kipling reads: "Oh, East is East, and West is West.../But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,/ When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth!"

A scan of a cartoon from The New Punch Library, Vol. 1, p. 44, published in London in 1932 (first published in 1905).: The cartoon (1905), accompanied by a quote from Rudyard Kipling, that appeared in the British press after the Anglo-Japanese alliance was renewed in 1905 demonstrates that the British public saw the alliance as an equal treaty between two powers.

Russo-Japanese War

When Russia failed to withdraw its troops from Manchuria by an appointed date, Japan issued a protest. Russia replied that it would agree to a partition of Korea at the 39th parallel, with a Japanese sphere to the south and a neutral zone to the north, but Manchuria was to be outside Japan’s sphere and Russia would not guarantee the evacuation of its troops. The Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904 with Japanese surprise attacks on Russian warships at Dalian and Chemulpo (in Korea, now called Incheon). Despite tremendous loss of life on both sides, the Japanese won a series of land battles and then decisively defeated Russia’s Baltic Sea Fleet (renamed the Second Pacific Squadron) at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. At an American-mediated peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Russia acknowledged Japan’s paramount interests in Korea and agreed to avoid “military measures” in Manchuria and Korea. Both sides agreed to evacuate Manchuria, except for the Guandong Territory (a leasehold on the Liaodong Peninsula) and restore the occupied areas to China. Russia transferred its lease on Dalian and adjacent territories and railroads to Japan, ceded the southern half of Sakhalin to Japan, and granted Japan fishing rights in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea.

 

Relations with the U.S.

In the late 19th century, the opening of sugar plantations in the kingdom of Hawaii led to the immigration of many Japanese. Hawaii became part of the U.S. in 1898, and the Japanese have been the largest element of the population ever since. However, there was friction over control of Hawaii and the Philippines. The two nations cooperated with the European powers in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, but the U.S. was increasingly troubled by Japan’s denial of the Open Door Policy that would ensure that all nations could do business with China equally. President Theodore Roosevelt played a major role in negotiating an end to the war between Russia and Japan in 1905-6.

Anti-Japanese sentiment, especially on the West Coast, soured relations in the 1907–1924 (beyond the Meiji period). Washington did not want to anger Japan by passing legislation that would bar Japanese immigration to the U.S. as had been done with Chinese immigration. Instead, there was an informal Gentlemen’s Agreement  of 1907 between the U.S. and Japan whereby Japan made sure there was very little or no movement to the U.S. The agreement also rescinded the segregation order of the San Francisco School Board in California, which had humiliated and angered the Japanese. It remained in effect until 1924 when Congress forbade all immigration from Japan.

The adoption of the 1907 Agreement spurred the arrival of “picture brides” — marriages of convenience made at a distance through photographs. By establishing marital bonds at a distance, women seeking to emigrate to the United States were able to gain a passport, while Japanese workers in America were able to gain a mate of their own nationality. Because of this loophole, which helped close the gender gap within the community from a ratio of 7 men to every woman in 1910 to less than 2 to 1 by 1920, the Japanese American population continued to grow despite the Agreement’s limits on immigration.

Attributions