The Russo-Japanese Conflict: Its Causes and IssuesAsakawa, Kan'ichi
History
The Russo-Japanese Conflict: Its Causes and Issues
Asakawa, Kan'ichi
Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905; Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 -- Causes
Let us sum up our discussion at this point, and compare the economic
interests of Russia and Japan in Manchuria and Korea. In Manchuria, both
Powers seek trade and colonization, with the important difference that
Japan’s interests are actually great and potentially greater, while
those of Russia are both actually and potentially preponderant. A
difference of greater moment lies, however, in the fact that, so far as
her trade and industry are concerned, Japan’s interests call for an
equal opportunity there for all industrial nations, while Russia’s
interests may be maintained and developed only by a highly exclusive
policy. In Korea, its opening for the trade, settlement, and enterprise
of the Japanese is not only the most natural method of strengthening
Korea herself, but also a primary condition for the life and growth of
Japan. Russia’s economic interests there, on the other hand, may be
measured by the number of her resident subjects and the extent of their
enterprise, which are, outside of Yong-am-po, next to nothing. Her
interests, being, as we shall soon see, mainly strategic and political,
demand here also a policy directly opposed to the open door. If we now
consider Manchuria and Korea together, it may be said that Russia’s
economic interests are, even in Manchuria, rather for her glory as a
great, expanding empire than for any imperative need of trade and
emigration in that particular part of her Asiatic dominion, while
similar interests of Japan, primarily in Korea and secondarily in
Manchuria, are vital, as they are essential for her own life and
development as a nation. The case for Russia can, perhaps, never be
understood until her _political_ issues are examined.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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