ABSTRACT
This conclusion begins by summarizing the three waves of international changes posited by this book – the need to respond to the consequences of the First World War; the return of the Soviet Union and China as active actors in the international politics of East Asia in the years following the Washington Conference; and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria – and Japan’s response to each of them. It then compares the China policies of Hara Takashi, Shidehara Kijūrō, and Tanaka Giichi and their differing positions on military and political interference in China. Finally, it discusses the role of Pan-Asianism within the foreign ministry as an alternative to the more mainstream course of cooperation with Britain and the United States that was pursued by all three of these diplomatic leaders.
