ABSTRACT
Against the afore-mentioned amendment, introduced by Baron Makino, Mr. Charles Hughes, the Premier of Australia, raised a loud and vigorous protesting voice. Among other powerful arguments with which he attempted to justify his opposition, he insinuated that the Japanese, of all peoples, were the last who had the right to complain of discriminatory treatment, in view of the manner in which they interpreted the doctrine of the equality of races in their attitude towards the Koreans and the Chinese. The Koreans had been treated as an inferior, subject people and their nation had been robbed of its independence. The Chinese were about to suffer the same fate as the Koreans, unless the Western nations intervened. Accordingly, argued Mr. Hughes, the Japanese proposal was purely an exercise in hypocrisy, and represented an attempt on their part to promote, by indirect methods, their real object, which was to secure the hegemony in Asia and the Pacific. If the British Dominions and the United States were to permit unrestricted immigration to those countries in compliance with the Japanese demand, they would simply be playing the Japanese game and promote Japan’s hidden designs.
