Oh, poor Japan! It's not as if they had done anything to make Britain legitimately hostile to them, like, say, forming an alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and sticking with it after the outbreak of a world war. No, they were just minding their own business, invading China and the USSR, when mean old Britain decided to beat up on them!...
Yes, in the 1930s Japan was ruled by a ruthless and aggressive Military dictatorship that sought to dominate Asia. In early December 1937 Japanese forces captured Nanking (China) and by Christmas, hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered and 20,000 to 80,000 women were raped. This nearly unprecedented barbaric act still adversely effects relations between Japan and China.
But to understand it one must go further back into history and then find it all started with Great Britain’s domination of the world in the 1800s. To subdue China, clipper ships, filled in strong Indian opium, arrived every few days in Chinese ports, often two at a time. See old etching of two arriving in my post at:
http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=2668027&postcount=358
Britain used opium to illegally annex parts of China (Hong Kong and several other islands) and to introduce hundreds, if not more than 1000 Christian missionaries, neither of which were effectively resisted as most young men were in opium stupors in opium dens the Brits had established and supplied with opium until the late 1800s, when the Boxer Rebellion began:
“... The uprising took place in response to foreign "spheres of influence" in China, with grievances ranging from opium traders, political invasion, economic manipulation, to missionary evangelism. In China, popular sentiment remained resistant to foreign influences, and anger rose over the "unequal treaties" (不平等條約), which the weak Qing state could not resist. There existed growing concerns that missionaries and Chinese Christians could use this decline to their advantage, appropriating lands and property of unwilling Chinese peasants to give to the church. This sentiment resulted in violent revolts against foreign interests. …”
{Billy T notes: “spheres of influence” refers to fact that all of China was dominated by various European countries in the late 1800s who formed an “Alliance” to exploit China and avoid conflicts between Europeans after the Brits suppressed Chinese resistance with Indian opium for about 100 years.} The boxers were defeated with European brutality not to be seen in China again until the Japanese took Nanking:
“…The Guardian journalist John Gittings also claimed that when the Alliance force entered Beijing, "it proceeded to loot, kill and rape with as much ferocity as the Boxers had shown (with the difference that the Boxers looted and killed, but did not rape)."[136] It was reported that Japanese troops were astonished by other Alliance troops raping civlians.[137] Thousands of Chinese women committed suicide. The Daily Telegraph journalist Dr. Dillon stated it was to avoid rape by Alliance forces, and he witnessed the mutilated corpses of Chinese women who were raped and killed by the Alliance troops.[138][139] Japanese officers had brought along Japanese prostitutes to stop their troops from raping Chinese civilians. A foreign journalist, George Lynch, said "there are things that I must not write, and that may not be printed in England, which would seem to show that this Western civilization of ours is merely a veneer over savagery." …”
Both this quote and one above From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion
Finally in early 1900s the “Boxer Protocol” was signed by the Chinese that gave to all the European powers of the alliance and the Japanese, the right to station troops in China, mainly along the railroad lines and in the ports. Some did not exercise this right but the Japanese did and in excess of the quota allowed. This and Japanese night time troop movements caused friction with local Chinese governments, but Japan agree to give prior notice before any troop movements. One night they moved troops to the end of the of the important and historic Marco Polo railroad bridge without prior notice and a Japanese soldier was probably killed by surprised Chinese soldier and promptly buried to hid the body. That was all that the Japanese military dictatorship needed as excuse – It all rapidly went downhill from there:
“… On the night of July 7, 1937, night maneuvers were carried out without prior notice, greatly alarming the local Chinese forces. Chinese troops, thinking an attack was underway, fired a few ineffectual rifle shots, leading to a brief exchange of fire at approximately 23:00. When a Japanese soldier failed to return to his post, … {The Chinese said:} Japan had violated China's sovereignty by conducting maneuvers without advance notice, and refused the Japanese demand for entry into Wanping {to search for their missing soldier}. However, {Chinese general} Qin said that he would order Chinese troops stationed at Wanping to conduct a search on their own with an attached Japanese officer. … while both sides prepared their investigators, a unit of Japanese infantry attempted to breach Wanping's defences and were repulsed. … At around 03:30 on the morning of 8 July, Japanese reinforcements in the form of four mountain guns and a company of machine gunners arrived from nearby Fengtai. The Chinese also rushed an extra division of troops to the area. At around 04:50, two Japanese investigators were allowed into Wanping. However, notwithstanding the presence of the Japanese investigators within the town, the Japanese Army opened fire with machine guns at around 05:00. Japanese infantry backed with armored vehicles attacked the Marco Polo Bridge, along with a modern railroad bridge to the southeast of town. Colonel Ji Xingwen led the Chinese defenses with about 1000 men, with orders to hold the bridge at all costs. After inflicting severe casualties, the Japanese forces partially overran the bridge and its vicinity in the afternoon, but the reinforced Chinese soon outnumbered the Japanese. Taking advantage of mist and rain on the morning of 9 July, the Chinese were able to retake the bridge by 06:00. …”
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_Incident
SUMMARY: The pacific part of WWII really was the end result of English abuse / destruction of China to introduce Christianity, control its wealth / trade, and confiscate parts of it (Honk Kong, being the most important) with 100 years of nearly free distribution of strong India opium. The settlement of the Boxer Rebellion authorized limited Japanese occupation and divided China in zones of control by several European Nations.
The Japanese army initially brought their own prostitutes, but soon learned from the westerners the economy of raping local women. They also moved troops without authorization one night to the Marco Polo bridge. That surprised Chinese forces defending it so they open fire upon the Japanese. One of the Japanese soldiers was never seen again and this escalated into war between the Chinese and the Japanese in less than a week.
If not by this incident, a war between them would have found some other trigger as Japan was ruled by an aggressive military dictatorship, seeking to dominate Asian,
but that would not have been possible, or even attempted against a strong China, if the Brits had not destroyed the Chinese nation with opium and superior military forces to annex Chinese land at will and support the Christian missionaries. Thus, in one way a long time ago or another way more recently with the blockade of the St. of Malacca, Britain,
with no provocation to its self, caused WWII in the Pacific to follow from its actions.
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