Existing comment:
War Threats in Asia:
Collision Course in the Far East:
The 1930s were a time of growing conflict and political upheaval in Asia. At the center of the discord was China, which was embroiled in a civil war between the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung's Communists. Divided and vulnerable, China was a tempting target for another Asian nation -- Japan.
In 1930, Japan ruled an empire in northeastern Asia that included Korea and Formosa. But ultranationalists in its military and government wanted more. Japan lacked land and natural resources; its economy, already squeezed by economic depression, depended upon imported oil, rubber and other raw materials. The country's leaders saw foreign conquest as the solution to this problem. Some spoke in racial terms, championing "Asia for the Asians." Yet their real aim was an Asia dominated by Japan.
In 1931, Japan embarked on a path of military expansion when it tightened its gip on Manchuria, forcibly detaching it from China and converting it into a virtual colony it named Manchukuo. Additional Japanese pressure and expansion in northern China led to a full-scale war between China and Japan in 1937 that included widespread Japanese atrocities against Chinese civilians.
Despite international protests, Japan continued its aggression in China. Its actions raised tensions throughout Asia and put it on an eventual collision course with the United States and other Western nations. |