美国建国史话：二战前美日关系

choi

VOA Chinese, Oct 29, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... TION-132850763.html

, which is translated from
David Jarmul, American History: US-Japan Relations Before World War Two. VOA, May 26, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/learninge ... sen--122622634.html

Quote:

"Japan's desire to use East Asia to gain natural resources [from Dutch, French and British colonies in Southeast Asia] and sell manufactured products [to China] was in direct conflict with American plans for Asia. This was especially true concerning China. Washington created an 'Open Door' policy toward China

"The United States was also very concerned about protecting its imports of oil, tin and rubber from Southeast Asia. This area of the world was a major supplier of these resources in the nineteen thirties. The Middle East had not yet become a leading producer of oil. In these ways, the United States and Japan were competing for the same resources and Asian markets.

"Much of the metal, oil, and other materials that Japan used for its war effort in China came from the United States. Americans did not like selling Japan materials to use against China. But the trade was legal because of a nineteen eleven agreement between Tokyo and Washington. However, the American government told Japan in nineteen thirty-nine that it would end the earlier agreement. It would no longer sell Japan materials that could be used for war.

Note:
(a) The article stated, "These two events helped moderates in the Japanese government to gain more influence over foreign policy. A moderate government took power in January nineteen-forty. However, this period of moderation in Tokyo did not last long.

(i) Mitsumasa YONAI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsumasa_Yonai
(米内 光政; 1880-1848; admiral; prime minister Jan 16-July 22, 1940; section 3 Prime Minister of Japan)
(ii) list of prime ministers of Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Japan

(b) The article next stated, "In the spring of nineteen forty, Germany launched its blitzkrieg, or lightning invasion, of Europe. The Nazis captured Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and finally France. Extremists in the Japanese government saw the German victory as their chance to launch their own attack on European colonies in Asia. They quickly began negotiations with Hitler to form a new alliance. And within months, militant leaders overthrew the moderate government in Tokyo. The new Japanese government was headed by a moderate, Prince Konoye. But the minister of war was an expansionist, General Tojo."

(i) Fumimaro KONOE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumimaro_Konoe
(近衛 文麿; 1891-1945; heir of the princely Konoe family in Tokyo; prime minister June 4, 1937-1939; July 22, 1940-1941; sections 3, 4, 5, 6)

* Battle of Shanghai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shanghai
(Aug 13--Nov 26, 1937)

(ii) Dutch East Indies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_Indies
(The Dutch introduced coffee, tea, cacao, tobacco and rubber and large expanses of Java became plantations cultivated by Javanese peasants, collected by Chinese intermediaries, and sold on overseas markets by European merchants. Before World War II, the Dutch East Indies produced most of the world's supply of quinine and pepper, over a third of its rubber, a quarter of its coconut products, and a fifth of its tea, sugar, coffee, and oil. The profit from the Dutch East Indies made the Netherlands one of the world's most significant colonial powers.)

(c) Lend-Lease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease
(A total of $50.1 billion (equivalent to $611 billion today) worth of supplies were shipped: $31.4 billion to Britain, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, and $1.6 billion to China)
(d) Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_P-40_Warhawk
(First flight  1938)
(e) The French surname Chennault is from anotehr surname Chenault, a person living near an irrigation channel (Old French chenal ‘channel’, ‘pipe’--from Late Latin canalis, a derivative of canna ‘reed’)
(f)
(i) The VOA article first said, ""And the announcement a month later of a non-aggression treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union gave Tokyo even more cause for concern. The Soviet Union could be a major opponent of Japanese expansion in East Asia. And it appeared free from the threat of war in Europe."

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact
(The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939; It remained in effect until 22 June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.)

(ii) The Article then said, "Again, events in Europe caused this situation to change. Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in the middle of nineteen forty-one. This prevented Moscow from doing any fighting on its eastern borders. So Japanese troops were free to invade southern Indochina.