China and the Biden Administration

[Dave Saxton]

Then the Americans under Wilson back tracked and instituted a general hostile to Japan policy which continued right up to WW2.

This was around the start of WW1 when Japan honoured its alliance with Great Britain by declaring war on Germany. Japan followed up in 1915 by issuing its ''21 Demands'' on China which would have made China a Japanese colony - my understanding is that it was the ''21 Demands'' that changed US policy towards Japan because it threatened US interests in China.

Correct. The 21 Demands episode has affected Sino-Japanese relations to this day. This episode is important to an understanding of what was going on in the internal Japanese dynamics which eventually lead to WW2, and also into Russia's continuing influence upon East Asia during this time frame.

During 1911, the Qing dynasty finally collapsed when the Qing administrative state attempted to nationalize the railroads. The out-lying regions rebelled. The only regional leader who had a private army strong enough, and loyal enough, to restore order was a warlord named Yuan Shi-Kai. Yuan demanded an end of the monarchy and proclaimed a republic. Yuan was only one of several warlords, though, and China remained ununited.

Sun Yet-sen rushed to Canton from Denver Colorado where he was living in exile to establish the Kuomintang (KMT) or the Nationalist Party and represented the KMT in the provisional national assembly. The KMT became the most powerful force in the assembly.

Russia submitted a set of demands to Yuan which coincidently numbered 21 just before the Japanese submitted their 21 Demands. Most of the demands of both Russia and Japan had to do with making sure previous treaties, leases, and agreements, would continue under the new government. However, the first five would have given Japan defacto control of China.

The 21 Demands were submitted by the Japanese Foreign Ministry. They had not been authorized by the prime minister’s Cabinet or the Privy Council. (an explanation of the structure of the Japanese government is order here. Japan was governed by a constitutional monarchy similar to 19th century Great Britain. There was a bicameral legislature called the diet consisting of the house of peers, and the lower house called the house of representatives. It was intended that sovereignty would eventually be shared between the emperor and the people through the diet. However, this was supposed to come in phases. After WW2 many pointed to the structural flaw of sovereignty not belonging to the people, but initially only to the emperor, as the reason for the deep state takeover of the Japanese Government leading up to WW2. The emperor was actually limited by the constitution in what he could do. The emperor presided over a council of 12 men called genro known as the Privy Council, and they in turn appointed the prime minister. Takashi Hara was the first prime minister to come from the majority party in the house in 1918. During the time of 21 Demands, Emperor Taisho was only a figure head because of a childhood sickness which left him mentally incompetent and power was officially held solely by the Privy Council...or so they thought).

The cabinet and the Privy Council were caught totally surprised by the 21 Demands. It was official policy only because it had been put forth by a rouge government agency entirely on its own, but the Japanese government had to own it once it became public. Actually, it is now known that the 21 Demands were formulated by the Black Dragon Society on October 29th 1914 and then put to elements in the Foreign Ministry who were members of the Black Dragon Society. The Black Dragon Society was also called the Amur River Society (the Black Dragon being the river’s nick name). The Amur River served as the border between Manchuria, Siberia, and Mongolia. The Amur River Society was originally formed to counter Russian interests in Manchuria after Russia invaded and occupied Manchuria during 1900. The 21 demands were formulated to counter Russia’s 21 demands.

When it was learned that Yuan had caved to some of the 21 Demands his days were numbered. Public outcry resulted in the May Insurrection. Yuan suddenly came down with kidney failure and died.

This left China in complete disarray. There were now as many 1300 warlords, each with their own private army, each vying to unite China under their rule. The KMT and Sun were just one of them. The KMT only held sway in the Canton region.

[Byron Angel]

Well said, gentlemen ..... Bravo.
The important lesson here, I think, is to understand the vast difference between propagandized history and the far more unsavory course of events as they really unfolded.

The latest chapter is being recorded in Ukraine.

B

[Dave Saxton]

Well said, gentlemen ..... Bravo.
The important lesson here, I think, is to understand the vast difference between propagandized history and the far more unsavory course of events as they really unfolded.

The latest chapter is being recorded in Ukraine.

B

I find it frustrating that docs on TV and so forth often state that Japan invaded China in 1937. This makes it seem like it was just a simple naked aggression like the invasion of Poland by National Socialist Germany. Perhaps they do this out of ignorance? Or maybe it’s laziness, because the fuller story is complicated. It has more twists and turns than a mountain canyon road. And really the war in the Pacific had its origins in China, and how vastly different the Anglo/Americans and the Japanese viewed the ongoing civil wars in China.

But it’s actually more complicated yet, because Japan had its own internal problems, especially that of having an almost autonomous military bureaucracy to the point where it conducted its own foreign policy. There was a point in the 1930’s where if the civilian side of the Japanese government did something the military didn’t like, the military simply removed the prime minister or the cabinet officer-usually by assassination. Elements within Japan, including secret societies having infiltrated the administrative state, pursued a long-standing policy of empire building, and these elements had control over the Japanese Army.

[Dave Saxton]

To take up where we left off after the failure of Yuan to unite China under his rule was the question of securing East Asia against the Central Powers during WW1, and keeping Russia in the fight to maintain a two-front war against Germany. So that Russia would deploy troops to the eastern front, Czech troops were sent east to guard the rail roads in East Asia and the infrastructure Russia had built in Manchuria, Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China (before the Japanese had kicked them out.) Britain also saw Japan’s contribution as important in securing the area. Britain and Japan had a long-standing friendly relationship dating back to when Russia had tried to colonize Japan in 1860. Russia landed troops on Tsushima and Hokkaido, but the British Royal Navy forced the Russians to back off. This episode instigated the last Tokugawa Shogun to turn control of Japan back to the monarchy and start the Meiji Restoration.

During WW1, the Germans paved the way for the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 as means of taking Russia out of the war. Essentially Russia flipped sides. Japan was alarmed and began preparing for a war against the Bolsheviks. When the US entered the war, Britain and France pressured Wilson to sending a US expedition into Siberia to fight alongside the Japanese in replacement of the Czech troops who had to be recalled given the new set of circumstances. Not much is known of this. The Japanese expected the US to assist them in assisting the Russian Whites in their struggles against the Reds, even after the war ended in Europe.

Wilson suffered a stroke in 1919 and became an invalid, but the administration kept it secret with an election upcoming. Point Six of Wilson’s 14 Points was that the Russian people should decide what government they wanted. A faction of the administration who opposed an American/Japanese intervention in Russia, also pointed out that a Japanese Monroe Doctrine for Asia including China would be incompatible with Wilson’s vision of new era of international relations governed by The League of Nations. (American administrations right through FDR’s would continue to pursue the goals of Wilsonian Diplomacy, despite the US Senate’s refusal to ratify the Versailles Treaty and so join the League, and would be a major point of contention with Japan after the Manchurian Incident in 1931.) Some argued that Wilson would have not wanted to meddle in the internal affairs of Russia and would have withdrawn the Siberian Expedition. Others pointed out that, there had been an election already scheduled in Russia with no time for the Bolsheviks to rig it, and the Bolsheviks were soundly defeated. It was a wipe out. Lenin declared the election void and established the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, so the Russian people had not chosen it themselves. The Dept of State thought assisting the Japanese was the best course of action, because it was also alarmed by the Communist Revolution and ensuing civil war. The War Dept objected to intervention because it feared being sucked into an endless war on the Asian Continent. Without first consulting the Japanese the expedition was withdrawn. The Japanese took this as a betrayal and began pursuing a Monroe Doctrine in Asia on their own, although they had to cancel their hopes of overthrowing the Bolsheviks.

Japanese private companies, purchased the railroads in Manchuria from the Russian companies now in exile. Japan reluctantly ratified Versailles which automatically made them a member of the League of Nations. The League authorized Japan to protect its assets in Manchuria and China. There had also been Japanese troops in China as part of international peace keeping forces since the Boxers Rebellion. The Versailles Treaty also awarded Japan the German colonial leases in China proper and the German territories in the Pacific. Japan protected its assets and citizens in China and Manchuria with troops.

[Dave Saxton]

Among the warlords and factions in chaotic China, Japan was not too fond of the KMT. Japan considered the KMT too sympathetic to socialism and therefore supported other factions such as antisocialist warlords Zhang Zuolin (Zhang was murdered by IJA officers in 1928 to break his alliance with the civilian side of the Japanese Gov.) and Duan Qirui against the KMT.

The KMT, however, had strong ties with British and American money and power. The wealthy Boston merchant, and former Christian missionary in China) Charly Soong was a major supporter of the KMT and hoped the KMT could unite China as a democracy. Soong was an associate with the super wealthy Delano family, as in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s maternal family line. Soong’s daughter Ail-ling joined the KMT becoming Sun’s secretary, and Soong’s son, TV Soong, was counted among the KMT leadership. Ail-ling married a wealthy Hong Kong power broker, and banker, and British subject, in 1915. Her younger sister Qing-ling came from America straight from an Ivy League school as Sun’s new secretary.

The Bolsheviks hoped to gain control of the KMT as well. They sent a trusted communist agent they had in Chicago named Michael Borodin to China to be a political adviser to Sun. Borodin convinced Sun to ally the Chinese Communist Party with the KMT. They also sent a general who called himself Vasily Blukker (Blucher) as a military adviser and to train the KMT troops. One of Sun’s generals, Chiang Kai-shek, was sent to study at the Moscow military academy. Also, among the KMT leadership was a young man named Mao Zedong representing the new CCP formed on July 1st 1921 in Shanghai. This embrace of communists by Sun Yet-sen may have been influenced by his marriage to his secretary, Soong Qing-ling (he already had multiple wives), despite her young age. It turned out that Qing-Ling was a dedicated socialist.

This vindicated Japan’s (civilian Gov.) concerns about the KMT, but both the USA and Great Britain kept their hopes for Chinese democracy pinned to the KMT.

Sun Yet-sen developed an aggressive cancer and died in 1925. In the power struggle which followed Chiang Kai-shek emerged as the new leader of the KMT. In 1927 the KMT army engaged on what was called the Northern Expedition in which 39 warlords were subjugated. It looked like the KMT, now based in Nanking, was going to unite much of Northern China under Chiang Kia-shek’s rule. However, the communist faction exercised considerable influence in the KMT and was gradually taking it over.

Chiang purged the communists from the KMT in a sort of The Night of the Long Knives event in 1927 in which hundreds of communists and communist sympathizers were rounded up and shot. Mao survived because he was home sick in the rural country side.

“Mao, Zhou Enlai, Madame Sun Yat-sen, and General Zhu Du built a communist coalition of rural peasants, former KMT, and by forming an alliance with the robber bands from the mountainous areas of South China.” (Quoting myself) In 1929 they formed the Soviet Socialist Republic of Southern China. Madame Sun Yet-sen was of course Soong Qing-ling. Chiang Kai-shek had married the third Soong sister, Soong Mei-ling, in 1927, after divorcing his other wives and joining the Methodist faith. So, we had sister against sister in the civil war which followed. Qing-ling remained one of the most powerful leaders in Communist China, among Mao’s inner circle, until her death during the 1980s. Their brother TV Soong remained in the KMT leadership and would continue to lobby for the KMT in Washington.

[RF]

I find it frustrating that docs on TV and so forth often state that Japan invaded China in 1937. This makes it seem like it was just a simple naked aggression like the invasion of Poland by National Socialist Germany. Perhaps they do this out of ignorance? Or maybe it’s laziness, because the fuller story is complicated.

Essentially Japan did invade China in 1937 - the military activity that encompassed WW2 started at the Marco Polo Bridge in July 1937 and not with KMS Schleswig-Holstein opening fire on the Polish naval dockyards at Gdynia on 1 September 1939.
Now Japan was already in China by 1937, having taken Manchuria in 1931 and Jehol in 1933. But until 1937 it was not a full scale invasion of the country as a whole.

Whilst the story is far more complex an invasion is exactly that, whether it is undertaken by an army acting on its own or an army under government order. And I don't believe there was any justification for what the Japanese Army did, regardless of the internal politics of China.

[Francis Marliere]

Great posts, thanks.

[Dave Saxton]

I find it frustrating that docs on TV and so forth often state that Japan invaded China in 1937. This makes it seem like it was just a simple naked aggression like the invasion of Poland by National Socialist Germany. Perhaps they do this out of ignorance? Or maybe it’s laziness, because the fuller story is complicated.

Essentially Japan did invade China in 1937 - the military activity that encompassed WW2 started at the Marco Polo Bridge in July 1937 and not with KMS Schleswig-Holstein opening fire on the Polish naval dockyards at Gdynia on 1 September 1939.
Now Japan was already in China by 1937, having taken Manchuria in 1931 and Jehol in 1933. But until 1937 it was not a full scale invasion of the country as a whole.

Whilst the story is far more complex an invasion is exactly that, whether it is undertaken by an army acting on its own or an army under government order. And I don't believe there was any justification for what the Japanese Army did, regardless of the internal politics of China.

There were several fascinating incidents leading up to the Marco Polo Bridge incident throughout 1936 which occurred on July 7th 1937.

One of the first was the Imperial Way Faction within the IJA officer’s corps reversed its long-standing position of remaining in Manchuria and China proper and began advocating Japan withdraw entirely from Continental Asia. To put this astonishing turn around into perspective, the Imperial Way Faction were socialist sympathizers and their spiritual leader was Ikki Kita. Kita, a member of the Black Dragon Society, wrote a book entitled The Kokutai and Pure Socialism in 1904. Kita thought a worldwide socialist revolution was best accomplished by imperialism, rather than through labor unions and class warfare. Developing nations should be colonized by socialist nations, wrote Kita, and then socialism would the null institution in the colony. At home Kita advocated an incremental takeover of government institutions and agencies. Eventually, the Privy Council and the Diet would be abolished and sovereignty would be held by a political bureau of 50 men. (This term would be shortened to Polit Bureau when the Bolsheviks came to power. Lenin read and reread The Kokutai and Pure Socialism several times). The emperor and the royal institution would remain, but become once again ceremonial, with the emperor becoming in Kita’s words an: Organ of the State.

On February 22nd 1936 army officers belonging to the IWF staged a coup attempt in Tokyo. It only failed because they mistakenly murdered the wrong man. When the army troops stormed the prime minister’s residence, the prime minister’s brother-in-law put on the prime minister’s clothes assuming his identity, and sacrificed his own life. (Had the coup succeeded, Japan would have withdrawn from China paving the way for Mao to complete the communist revolution in China at that time.)

After the failed coup it was the end of the IWF as a political force, but the opposing faction in the army called the Control Faction became so preeminent that it essentially gained control over the government. All cabinet members except the PM were hence forth active-duty army officers and therefore the IJA gained veto power over policy.

[Dave Saxton]

Kita was tied to the conspiracy through phone records and executed, but escaping scrutiny at that time was the communist spy ring in Tokyo, led by Richard Sorge, whom were likely coordinating things behind the scenes. Sorge was a member of the National Socialist Party and had free access to the German delegation in Tokyo and was privy to German diplomatic secrets. He was also trusted by several Japanese officials because of his association with Hotsumi Ozaki who was a journalist and a member of the Army’s Cherry Blossom secret society, and who was a major player in the Manchurian Incident back in 1931. Nonetheless, Sorge worked directly for Stalin and was only answerable to Stalin. Sorge communicated with Moscow through a secret radio secured right in the German Embassy, and operated by Max Clausen a member of Sorge’s ring.

The German position in East Asia during the 1930’s is interesting and up until 1936 more or less Anti-Japanese. Chiang Kai-Shek was unable to prevail against the communists until Hitler came to power. Germany and Chiang had been friendly from 1927. National Socialist Germany and the KMT formed an informal alliance during 1933, with Hitler sending military aid, weapons, and expertise, to Chiang. Soon KMT troops were wearing German style uniforms, including the Stahl helm, and were becoming well trained. Elite divisions were formed. AH sent two generals, Hans von Seeckt and Alexander von Faulkenhausen. Things started going bad for the communists with von Seeckt implementing a new strategy of boxing the communists in with an ever-closing ring of fortifications in Southern China. The communists had to break out or perish. They broke out and initiated the Long March, ending up near the borders of Inner Mongolia. The KMT was unable to stop them.

Chiang thought it signaled victory for the KMT. So did FDR. Others did not see it that way at all. Von Faulkenhausen with his military expertise pointed out that Mao was the one in the better strategic position. He pointed out that because of China’s geography, particularly its rivers, and the railroads- which the Japanese controlled- that Mao could use them to drive right through China from his new position with a rejuvenated army. Moreover, von Faulkenhausen pointed out that the CCP’s new position allowed them to receive support and perhaps direct military assistance from the Soviet Union, because the USSR had invaded and occupied Mongolia during 1929. Von Faulkenhausen reported the situation to Berlin.

The Germans began secret negotiations with the Japanese to enter an Anti-Communism Pact. Sorge reported this to Stalin, before the pact was made public.

Basically, the Germans realized that Chiang would eventually lose to Mao, especially if the Japanese were removed and then not replaced by another anti-communist power-with boots on the ground.

[Dave Saxton]

After the failure of the IWF coup in Japan, Mao suddenly wanted to become friends with the KMT again. Mao, and coincidentally, some of Chiang’s generals, began pressuring Chiang to join the communists in a United Front to drive the Japanese out of China. Indeed, on December 12th 1936 one of Chiang’s generals, Zhang Xuieliang (the son of the Zhang murdered by IJA officers in 1928 so that the young Zhang, a socialist, could take his place), arrested Chiang Kai-Shek and turned him over to Mao. The conditions of Chiang’s release were to join forces with Mao in a war against the Japanese. After 13 days Chiang was released. He said he escaped and another story was that his wife secured his release. I, however, suspect he made the deal.

According to documents later released after WWII by the Communist Party of Outer Mongolia, Chiang and Mao formally entered an agreement to join forces in a war against the Japanese on July 5th 1937, only two days before Marco Polo Bridge.

At the Marco Polo Bridge there was a KMT garrison and a Japanese garrison (since 1901) who jointly guarded the ancient bridge from terrorist attack. Shots were fired by somebody and an exchange of gunfire erupted. Nonetheless, the two generals on the scene, Gen Sung for the KMT, and Gen. Hashimoto, for the Japanese, brought things under control and agreed on a cease fire. Thrice shots rang out again but further fighting did not develop. Sung reported to Chiang that things were under control and there was no need for further escalation. Hashimoto reported to Tokyo that there was no need to send reinforcements. Chiang was very angry and ordered Sung to retaliate. Sung countermanded that order and another.

Chiang disavowed the truce, and sent troops against the Japanese garrison at Peking on July 11th. Then on July 25th at a rail station at Lang Fang, KMT troops and Japanese troops began exchanging gunfire. This time there was no truce. Two nights later, 223 Japanese civilians were massacred at a residential suburb near Peking called Tung Chow. Japanese Prime Minister Konoe then dispatched IJA regulars to China. Two days later the IJN began carrier air operations.

[Dave Saxton]

The Japanese prevailed in every skirmish in the Peking region though out July. One of Chiang’s generals, Zhang Zizhong, proposed opening a second front at Shanghai. Zhang reasoned that if the Japanese marine garrison at Shanghai was attacked, that the Japanese would send troops down the coast to bolster the garrison. They would then be exposed to encirclement against the coast. Von Faulkenhausen counseled against Zhang’s proposal. Von Faulkenhausen pointed out that the Japanese would have control of the air and sea, and perhaps more importantly the Yangzi River. Nonetheless, the KMT began shelling the Japanese garrison at Shanghai on August 13th.

The Japanese easily broke attempts of encirclement and then turned the tables on the Chinese through amphibious operations fully supported by tactical air and gunboats. The Japanese had complete air superiority, and complete sea superiority. But Chiang had 33 divisions and just about everybody expected Chiang to prevail, albeit at high cost. Thereafter followed three months of brutal urban warfare that was to presage Stalingrad and Manila. But Chiang kept throwing his troops into the Shanghai meat grinder until he had few left. By late November, the remnants of Chiang’s shattered armies began to flee up river toward Nanking.

Tokyo ordered the Japanese armies to not pursue. They offered Chiang terms. They wanted Chiang to join the Anti-Communist Pact and essentially ally with the Japanese. Von Faulkenhausen advised capitulation and accepting the terms. The other option was to retreat into the vastness of western China and await outside intervention. Chiang chose the latter. I think there was an element of pride involved, but it’s unlikely that Chiang could have remained in power, and many Chinese would rally behind Mao, had he settled.

The Japanese general, Iwane Matsui, didn’t think it was a good idea to let the KMT regroup but he followed orders and ordered his troops to stand down. His subordinate commanders did not follow his order and continued to pursue the Chinese all the way to Nanking.

And at Nanking a terrible thing happened. After Nanking there was really no hope for a negotiated peace.

[Dave Saxton]

To clarfy I'm not attempting to justify Japanese aggression and war crimes but I think as historians we must be aware of the complexities. Also in light of current events its good to know these things.

[RF]

On February 22nd 1936 army officers belonging to the IWF staged a coup attempt in Tokyo. It only failed because they mistakenly murdered the wrong man. When the army troops stormed the prime minister’s residence, the prime minister’s brother-in-law put on the prime minister’s clothes assuming his identity, and sacrificed his own life. (Had the coup succeeded, Japan would have withdrawn from China paving the way for Mao to complete the communist revolution in China at that time.)

I am not so sure that Japan would have withdrawn from China at all even if the coup was completely successful. The Kwantung Army acted on its own in 1931, it would not have abandoned its client state of Manchukou and would have disregarded any order to vacate. Most likely it would stage a counter-coup to ensure its position.

I think that the Japanese military ideas on socialism somewhat disengenous, some what like German National Socialism. Any member of the British Labour Party would say that isn't socialism at all, but fascism dressed up in socialist phraseology.... they would point out that its basis is inequality and exploitation of what is regarded as ''inferior'' peoples. In reality it is no different than the ''Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere'' which obtained in 1941-45.

Without the war on the United States and the Allies there is no guarantee that Mao would have prevailed in China. That could have been the case if instead the KMT had come to terms with Japan around 1936-37, so that there was no formal invasion, no indiscriminate bombing, no ''rape of Nanking'' and no US/Dutch sanctions on Japan, the KMT allowing a partition of China in exchange for the Japanese with KMT support eliminating Mao. It could have extended even further with the clashes with the Soviet Union in 1939 leading to a four power pact of Germany, Italy, Poland and Japan in which Germany attacks the Soviet Union in September 1939 with Polish support while the Kwantung Army crossed into Siberia.....

[Dave Saxton]

...some what like German National Socialism. Any member of the British Labour Party would say that isn't socialism at all, but fascism dressed up in socialist phraseology.... they would point out that its basis is inequality and exploitation of what is regarded as ''inferior'' peoples. In reality it is no different than the ''Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere'' which obtained in 1941-45.

...

That well describes the opposing Control Faction of the IJA. The Control Faction was made up mostly of older officers of samurai roots. The Control Faction was rooted in a different secret society known as the Black Ocean Society. The BOS was started by former samurai after they failed to overturn the Meiji Restoration during the late 19th century through several counter revolutions. Prior to the Meiji Restoration, the samurai class made up the government class/administrative state as well as the various military organizations and law enforcement. But the Meiji Restoration eliminated the samurai class and replaced it with a meritocracy. The BOS was formed to help the displaced government class to regain their privileged status/job security through more subtle means, than actual civil war. After the Feb. 22/36 coup attempt the IWF was crushed leaving the Control Faction more or less in control.

One of the problems western governments had at that time when dealing with the Japanese, and which also makes things difficult for historians today, was just how fractured the Japanese Government was by the 1930's. Besides the two main, and powerful, factions of the IJA, the IJN officers corps was also divided into two main factions. These were not the Navy's versions of the Army's two factions. The Japanese military had a very intense interservice rivalry. The IJA and the IJN hated each other and disagreed on about everything. The IJA was far more powerful within Japanese politics than was the IJN. However, the monarchy favored the IJN as a check against the IJA's power. The Privy Council preferred to appoint retired admirals to the cabinet prior to 1937.

The two factions of the IJN were the Fleet Faction and the Treaty Faction. The Treaty Faction, which was usually aligned with the civilian government, figured it best to adhere to the various arms control treaties rather than getting sucked into a naval arms race with the Anglo/American naval powers. The Fleet Faction wanted to build up the Japanese Navy into the most powerful in the world, at any cost. When PMs signed on to arms control treaties the Fleet Faction murdered them.

The IJN disagreed with the Control Faction's strategic planning emphasizing empire building on Continental Asia. Lying dormant, however, within the IJN was a strategic vision to expand southward and take over the European colonies in the Western Pacific. It was revived within the IJN following President Roosevelt's bellicose Quarantine Speech. This was the beginning of the IJN getting onboard with an "East Asia Coprosperity Sphere" type concept, and they began revising their strategic planning.

The IJN's interest in expansion was based on the fact that modern navies must have access to fuel. With ever tightening sanctions they were willing to do whatever it took to secure those resources.

[Dave Saxton]

Back to the present:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/16 ... z-Truss-vn

https://europeantimes.org/taiwan-reunif ... -imminent/

What a load....The term Reunification is nonsense. Taiwan has not been connected to main land China in any way since 1894. Furthermore, main land China had no cohesive nation state until 1949.