The China White Paper 1949(V)

After the US joined WWI in 1917, America and Japan were on the same side fighting against Germany, and they signed the Lansing-Ishii Agreement to protect their mutual interest. When WWI was over, China at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 demanded Japan to cease its control over Shantung peninsula. That request was somehow achieved on 4th February 1922 with the help of the American and other powers. Also with the co-ordination of the US, countries participated in the Washington Conference signed the Nine-Power Treaty for the purpose of respecting "the sovereignty, the independence, and the territorial and administrative integrity of China, and to uphold the principle of the Open Door".1 Furthermore they would avoid "taking advantage of conditions in China in order to seek special rights or privileges which would abridge the rights of subject of citizens of friendly states."2 One implication of this treaty on Japan and the American was that this treaty became a point of reference after Japan seized Manchuria in 1931-1933. And it also became the subject of the Brussels Conference called in 1937 after the outbreak of the war between Japan and China in 1937.

Another diplomatic maneuver made by the US towards China in the 1920s took place in 1928 when China had achieved a degree of unity under Kuomintang. On July 25, 1928, the US recognized the Nationalist Government and became the first country to sign a treaty to restore tariff autonomy to China.3 In mid-1929, the Sino-Soviet relationship drew the attention of the American when a dispute developed between China and the Soviet Union over the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria. Although the US Secretary of State Stimson tried to intervene, there was not much success. Eventually the USSR and China settled their disputes by signing a Protocol on December 22, 1929.4 (to be continued)

Notes:
1. United States, Department of State. The China White Paper-August 1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1967, page 10.
2. Ibid., page 10
3. Ibid., page 12
4. Ibid., page 13