日中関係

After the Meiji Reforms, Japan transformed itself from an agrarian country to an industrial power. Japan became an imperialist country when its economic and military power permitted it to project its power beyond its national boundary. AfterGermany's defeat in WWI, Shandong of China was to be transferred to Japan though it should have been returned to China. From the Chinese point of view, it was certainly nothing but a violation of national integrity. However, from the Japanese point of view,it was only right because it concluded a secret treaty with western powers about obtaining German rights in Shandong. Also, to the Japanese, aggression in China's northeast (Manchuria) in the 1930s was regarded as a necessity to invade China in thefuture. In order to legitimize its "move" in Manchuria, Japan set up "Manchukuo" and sought international recognition of the newly formed regime. However, western powers regarded Japan's move as "unlawful" and told Japan to leave Manchuria immediately. Fromthe Japanese point of view, that was wholely unfair because other western powers were also scrambling to establish foreign colonies at the same time. Japan thought that it was purely racism. I think that this is the general view of the Japanese on theManchuria incident.

Today, Japanese think that Chinese are also "imperializing" other territories like Tibet and Xinjiang. These are some of the views of Japanese people:

1) "Chinese people always say that we are imperialists, they are alsodoing the same thing!"

2) "The world is wholely not fair to Japan! We Japanese lost all of our foreign holdings after WWII, but China is still able to hold on to some many of its 'gainings'."

3) "Chinese are the real militarists of Asia, notJapanese."

I think that this is how Japanese think. Please don't hesitate to correct me if I'm wrong. Please tell me your views.