The Concept of Spheres of Influence and Modern Japanese Diplomacy

Abstract

This study examines the concept of spheres of influence and modern Japanese diplomacy. The concept of spheres of influence, which has been received attention in recent years in the study of modern Japanese diplomatic history, is very complex and important for discussing modern Japanese foreign policies. This paper first analyzes the spheres of influence based on the descriptions in several sources and classifies them into five types: (1) reservation of occupation, (2) mutual recognition among powers, (3) acquisition of rights, (4) adjacent important areas, and (5) under some influence. The study then examines several issues concerning modern Japanese diplomacy and spheres of influence, particularly the relationship between Japan and Manchuria and its related problem of continuity and change in the Japanese diplomacy around World War I.

After the Russo–Japanese War, Japan acquired rights and interests in South Manchuria through the Treaty of Portsmouth with Russia and various agreements with China. Furthermore, Japan concluded agreements with Russia to divide Manchuria into north and south and demarcate them as their respective spheres of influence, and obtained recognition of the division from other powers. In other words, for Japan, South Manchuria was its sphere of influence based on both (2) mutual recognition among powers and (3) acquisition of rights. Simultaneously, it was potentially a sphere of influence as (4) an adjacent important area or (5) an area under some influence.

After World War I, the system in which several powers established their own spheres of influence in China and mutually recognized them collapsed. However, the Japanese government believed that it was still possible to have powers recognize Japan’s special relationship with Manchuria in some way. The Japanese government no longer described Manchuria as a so-called sphere of influence, but in terms of the concept of spheres of influence as an analytical concept, Manchuria could be Japan’s sphere of influence as a type of (3) acquisition of rights, (4) adjacent important areas, or (5) under some influence. While trying to secure interests in Manmō (Manchuria and Inner Mongolia), Japan sought to legitimize the special relationship between Japan and Manmō by emphasizing the adjacency.

In recent years, the notion of spheres of influence has been increasingly referred to in the world primarily against the backdrop of the Russian moves. Although this paper examines the issues related to the spheres of influence only from the perspective of the modern Japanese diplomatic history, it may make a broader contribution to the study of international relations as an attempt to analyze the historical evolution of the concept of spheres of influence.