What Made Us Have a Good Relationship With Japan Again
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'chiliad Steve Ember.
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In recent programs, nosotros talked about how the rise of Fascist leaders in Europe threatened American neutrality in the nineteen thirties.
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Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany created the most obvious threat. Only there was also Benito Mussolini in Italy and Francisco Franco in Spain. These leaders challenged both the thought of republic and the security of some of America's closest allies.
Hitler's invasion of Poland and the spread of war in Europe in nineteen 30-nine made Americans wonder if they could remain neutral much longer.
The Usa would finally go to war against Hitler and the other Axis nations. But its beginning boxing would non exist in Europe at all. Instead, the United States would enter World War Two following a surprise attack past Nippon on the big American naval base of operations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Relations betwixt the Us and Japan had grown steadily worse throughout the xix thirties. Both nations were of import industrial powers. But they had very different ideas about the economic and political future of Eastern asia, especially Red china.
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Until the late eighteen hundreds, Japan had been a nation with aboriginal political traditions and trivial contact with the Western world.
Visits past Commodore Matthew Perry and American warships helped open Nihon to trade with the Us and other nations in the eighteen fifties. And in the years that followed, Japan took major steps toward condign a modern industrial nation.
By the nineteen twenties and thirties, Japan was a potent country. Just it lacked oil, rubber and other natural resources of its own. For this reason, Japanese political leaders looked with envy at the Dutch, French and British colonies beyond Southeast Asia and the Pacific. And Japanese business leaders saw huge markets for their products in nearby countries similar Korea and Prc.
Japan's want to use East asia to gain natural resources and sell manufactured products was in straight conflict with American plans for Asia. This was especially truthful concerning Communist china. Washington created an "Open up Door" policy toward China. It wanted to go on China's natural resources and markets free from command past Japan or any other nation.
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For this reason, Americans were very concerned when Japanese forces invaded the Manchuria area of Mainland china in 19 xxx-i. And they watched with great interest the efforts of Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek to oppose the Japanese invaders.
The United states was also very concerned nigh protecting its imports of oil, tin and rubber from Southeast Asia. This area of the globe was a major supplier of these resources in the nineteen thirties. The Eye East had not yet become a leading producer of oil.
In these ways, the United States and Nippon were competing for the same resources and Asian markets. All the same, in that location as well was a good deal of trade between the two nations. In fact, Japan depended on the United States for most of its metal, copper and oil.
This trade with Tokyo became a major concern for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Congress in nineteen thirty-vii.
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In the summer of that twelvemonth, more Japanese troops moved into Red china. They rapidly captured much of the Chinese coast.
Much of the metal, oil, and other materials that Nihon used for its war endeavor in China came from the United states. Americans did not like selling Japan materials to employ against China. But the trade was legal considering of a nineteen eleven agreement between Tokyo and Washington.
Yet, the American government told Japan in xix thirty-nine that information technology would end the earlier agreement. It would no longer sell Japan materials that could be used for war.
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Washington'south decision made the Japanese government retrieve again almost its expansionist plans. And the declaration a calendar month later on of a non-aggression treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union gave Tokyo even more than crusade for concern. The Soviet Union could be a major opponent of Japanese expansion in East asia. And it appeared free from the threat of state of war in Europe.
These two events helped moderates in the Japanese government to gain more influence over strange policy. A moderate government took power in January 19-twoscore.
Nevertheless, this period of moderation in Tokyo did non final long.
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In the spring of 19 forty, Frg launched its blitzkrieg, or lightning invasion, of Europe. The Nazis captured Denmark, Norway, kingdom of the netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and finally French republic.
Extremists in the Japanese government saw the High german victory as their gamble to launch their own attack on European colonies in Asia. They rapidly began negotiations with Hitler to form a new alliance. And within months, militant leaders overthrew the moderate regime in Tokyo.
The new Japanese authorities was headed past a moderate, Prince Konoye. Simply the minister of war was an expansionist, General Tojo. Tokyo wasted no time in taking action. It forced French republic to give Nippon permission to occupy northern Indochina. And Tokyo also demanded that Britain shut the Burma Road to the Chinese city then known as Chungking.
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The Burma Road was a major road by which the United States was supplying Red china with munitions as role of the Lend-Charter Act.
These events acquired relations between Tokyo and Washington to become even worse.
In the second one-half of nineteen forty, President Roosevelt banned the export of metal and oil products to Japan. His administration too lent coin to Prc.
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America began to supply Chiang Kai Shek's government with a fleet of P-xl fighter airplanes with volunteer pilots, led past Army aviator Claire Chennault, to train Chinese pilots. The squadron became known every bit the Flying Tigers.
American representatives quietly began to meet with British and Dutch officials, to discuss articulation defence force plans for possible Japanese attacks in the western Pacific.
Washington and Tokyo held long negotiations in nineteen forty-ane. The American officials hoped the negotiations might filibuster Nippon from launching an attack to the due south. They besides thought that a filibuster might requite more moderate leaders in Japan a chance to gain more influence. And for a time, the American plan worked. Nippon did non brand new acts of aggression.
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Again, events in Europe caused this state of affairs to change. Nazi Frg attacked the Soviet Union in the middle of 19 xl-i. This prevented Moscow from doing whatever fighting on its eastern borders. And then Japanese troops were free to invade southern Indochina.
President Roosevelt reacted to Nippon's invasion of Indochina by taking three major steps. First, he took control of all Japanese money in the United States. Second, he brought the military of the Philippines under American command. And, third, he closed the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping.
Once once more, a disharmonize developed between moderates and extremists in the Japanese government.
More moderate leaders such equally Prime Minister Konoye urged i more than try to reach an agreement with the United states. But the Japanese ground forces and navy believed that the fourth dimension had come up to go to state of war to terminate American and European power in East Asia forever.
Negotiations between Japan and the United states continued through the concluding months of xix forty-one. But the two nations were on the edge of war. They were every bit close to hostilities equally Washington was with the Nazi government in Berlin.
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American military officials captured secret messages from Japan during this time. They learned that Tokyo was planning an attack of some kind unless the United States all of a sudden inverse its policies. However, the American officials could non detect exactly where or how the attack would be made.
Near everyone in Washington expected that the Japanese would attack south of Nippon. They were wrong. The military leaders in Tokyo were planning a surprise attack on America's main Pacific war machine base of operations, at Pearl Harbor. That will be our story next calendar week.
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Our program was written by David Jarmul. You tin find our serial online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You tin can as well follow united states of america on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English language. I'thousand Steve Ember, inviting you to join united states again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
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This was program #190
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