Manchuria East Asia Essay

Following the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the world turned its eyes towards this rising new global power in Asia. By defeating the Russians and the waiving of the white flag at Liaoyang, the Japanese have quickly proven themselves as an overall competitor to the West in terms of political and military power. By the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth in September 5, 1905, it recognized Japanese supremacy in Korea, oversaw the transition of Russian holdings in Manchuria (Liaodong leases, railroads, etc.) to Japan, and the transfer of the Southern half of Sakhalin Island to Japan. But that was only the beginning, for the change in relationship with East Asia was soon to follow in the years in the aftermath of rising Japanese influence in the Pacific. When the Siberian intervention began in 1918, Japan joined forces with the West during the midst of the Russian Civil War after the end of World War I. The response with Japanese forces aiding the White Russian movement against the Bolshevik Reds (who inevitably rose to power after overthrowing the Tsar and his royal family to establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [“USSR” or “Soviet Union”]) was met with enthusiasm because Japan saw this as a golden opportunity to rid themselves from any threats made by Russia by separating Siberia and converting it into an independent buffer state as it did with the surrounding territories in East Asia, even though they turned down the French’s request to intervene a year earlier. Japan agreed to send at least 12,000 troops but instead as part of an international coalition as suggested by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, Japan would instead maintain command of its own military units. Even after the Allies withdrew from the conflict in 1920, Japan continued to occupy Siberia and fight on for another two years to prevent the spread of communism to the main island and Japan-controlled Korea and Manchuria, concerning the Americans as they felt that Japan had something planned on permanently seizing control of Siberia and much of the Russian Far East as a plot to expand their domain and influential sphere that would inevitably clash with their own. …show more content…
It was during this time that Japan stationed a military presence in Manchuria calling itself the Kwantung Army, where the Japanese government collaborated with the Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin. But that alone wasn’t enough to satisfy some dissident Japanese Kwantung soldiers stationed in the region as they sought a full-scale occupation in the late 1920s, leading to a bomb exploding on the bridge along the Jingfeng Railway and Zuolin’s assassination. It caught the Kwantung leadership off guard since the troops were not ready and unable to take advantage of the incident for their own benefit; because of this incident, the assassination of Zhang Zuolin weakened Japan’s position in Manchuria. In the end, the Kwantung Army waited several more years before making another move to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishing a puppet state. They soon succeeded in 1931 following Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto detonating dynamite close to the South Manchurian Railroad, where the Japanese accused Chinese “dissidents” of the act and launched a full-scale invasion, creating a puppet state it desired—Manchuria, had been renamed “Manchukuo”, where the state was ruled by Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China of the Qing dynasty. This became known as the Manchuria