CAUSES OF WAR IN THE ASIA PACIFIC

MAIN REASON: JAPAN’S AGGRESSIVE FOREIGN POLICY, DRIVEN BY RISING MILITARISM AND ITS GROWING AMBITION TO ESTABLISH ITSELF IN ASIA
AND EUROPE, WOULD LEAD TO WAR IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

▪ Between 1910 – 1920, the failure of the democratic government in Japan to deal effectively with the economic problems would lead to the rise of
nationalists and militarists in Japan who challenged the democratic political leaders for political power. As many army and navy leaders had links
with nationalist parties, the growth of militarism in Japan was tied closely with the growth of nationalism. The influence of both groups would
cause the progression of Japanese politics towards militarism by 1932.

▪ Rising militarism would cause Japan to adopt an ambitious and aggressive foreign policy based on expansionism rather than diplomacy to achieve
the nationalists’ desire to make Japan an autarky, a country not dependent on the West for economic support and trade. As a result of its aggressive
foreign policy, Japan would resort to using military force to seize control of territories near it, such as Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria, in order to
obtain access to resources, land and trading opportunities.

▪ Fuelled by the success if its expansion into these territories, Japan’s aggressive foreign policy would drive it to make plans to expel the European
powers from East Asia and Southeast Asia so it could dominate these regions and establish a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere under Japanese
rule. In addition to economic gains, Japan’s goal was also to build an empire similar to the Europeans so it would finally be given due respect by
the Western powers. Since its modernisation, Japan had struggled to gain equality with the Western powers, many of which did not consider Japan
an equal. This was evident when at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the Japanese proposal for a racial equality clause to be included in the
covenant of the LON was rejected. To fulfil its desire to gain equality and recognition among world powers, rising militarism and its growing
ambition would steer Japanese foreign policy towards expansionism, encouraging it to seek alliances with countries like Germany and Italy, and
subsequently, pursue war as a means to achieve its economic and political objectives.

▪ In 1937, when Japan’s aggressive foreign policy leads to a full-scale invasion of China, resulting in the Second Sino-Japanese War, tensions between
the USA and Japan would come to a head when Japan refused to meet American demands to end the war and limit its expansion in the region.
Japan’s militaristic outlook and its ambition to fulfil its aggressive foreign policy would influence it to launch an attack on Pearl Harbour instead,
which would ultimately spark war in the Asia-Pacific.