Japan by Milton W. Meyer

Author:Milton W. Meyer [Meyer, Milton W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7425-5793-2
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

JAPAN, KOREA, AND WORLD POWERS

The Treaty of Portsmouth recognized Japan’s paramount interests in Korea as well. In late 1905, Ito went to Seoul to negotiate a treaty that transformed the country into a Japanese protectorate. Korean foreign relations came under Japanese management, and a Japanese resident general (Ito was the first) was stationed in the capital. Ito launched reforms, but, complaining of the slow pace of modernization, he forced the abdication of the Korean king. In 1907, a new Japanese-Korean agreement was signed that placed in Japanese hands the administration of all important affairs of state, official appointments and dismissals, and all laws. The Korean army was disbanded. Finally, on August 22, 1910, a treaty of annexation terminated Korean sovereignty. The peninsula, now a colony of Japan, was renamed Chosen (derived from an ancient Chinese designation for the country). Japanese divisions were stationed there, and subsequently, the government of the country was placed under a Japanese general. Chosen became the Japanese political and military headquarters on the Asian mainland.

Korea played a key role in the Japanese movement into China, as had Taiwan in southward expansion. To Korea, the Japanese brought law, order, and prosperity, but all efforts were made for Japanese benefits. In the regimented colony, rice production increased, the fish catch in Korean waters quadrupled, and reforestation proceeded. Economic gains were noticeable, but the Koreans did not participate in them. In a double standard of wages and opportunities, the Japanese received the better paying jobs and offices. Study of the Japanese language was made compulsory for Koreans. Some were forcibly sent as labor battalions to southern Sakhalin or to the Japanese home islands. Hatred of Japan became widespread among Koreans at home, but rebellion was impossible because of military controls. Some anti-Japanese leaders, such as Syngman Rhee, left the country in exile. They took up residence abroad, to continue the fight against Japanese colonial rule over their homeland.

Having confirmed its paramount position in southern Manchuria and Korea, Japan came to terms with the leading European powers. There were no problems with Britain, for the alliance sealed diplomatic friendship. There were no disputes with France, although Japan had resented that country’s role in the Triple Intervention. After England had signed the Entente Cordiale with France, Japan also came to an agreement with the French. In 1907, a treaty concluded in Paris pledged mutual respect for Chinese independence and territory. Japanese in French Indochina, and Indochinese in Japan, were to be accorded reciprocal most-favored-nation status. No problems existed with Germany.

The Russians did not remain enemies. Japan concluded four agreements with czarist Russia to delineate respective spheres of influence in East Asia. In 1907, two conventions, one public and one secret, were signed. The former constituted a routine reaffirmation of the Open Door policy (equal commercial opportunities for foreign powers) in China, while the latter divided Manchuria into two spheres of special jurisdiction—Japan in the south and Russia in the north. Japan also recognized the primary interests of Russia in Outer Mongolia, while Russia accepted Japan’s position in Korea.

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