The Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR), originating from the YMCA movement, was established in July 1925 in Honolulu, Hawaii. This period suffered from bitter and growing frictions between the East and the West. These frictions were caused not only by incompatible political and economic interests, but also by racial antagonisms and cultural conflicts. For instance, the United States Congress had passed the Oriental Exclusion Act in 1924, which wounded Asian sensibilities and aroused anti-American feelings, especially in Japan. The Chinese Nationalist revolution led by Sun Yatsen was powerfully growing and anti-foreignism directed against the Western powers, especially against Great Britain, was widespread in China.
Aware of the gulf between the East and the West, and eager to throw a bridge across it, a group of men and women devised the idea of holding a non-official conference of leaders personally based from Pacific countries to discuss problems of mutual concern, and to promote deeper mutual understanding and peace.
The first IPR Conference was held in Honolulu in July 1925. Its 150 members came from Australia, Canada, China, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the Philippines. The men and women of different national backgrounds worked together and cooperated to share intellectual and cultural knowledge. They had a common belief or visionary goal that if they could get together for friendly, frank discussion of the problems of the Pacific, these problems might prove to be less difficult than they seemed.
In case of the second Hawaii IPR Conference in July 1927, in addition to the orignal members, a newly formed British group attended, two members from the League of Nations and a member from International Labor Office attended with the qualification of observer. Afterwards, IPR continued its activities until 1961 under the drastically changed international environments.
This paper focuses on the problems of the Peace Machinery in the Pacific area at the first and second Hawaii IPR Conferences. This is one of the most important subjects for IPR.
In the first Hawaii IPR Conference, the Peace Machinery Problem was discussed rather abstractly and optimistically. It is indicated in the public address presented by H. Duncan Hall.
In the Pacific we must not make the mistake of subordinating the development of peace to the prevention of war. What is required in the Pacific is some sort of loose conference machinery which would bring governments together at regular intervals to promote international co-operation.
from “POLITICAL AND LEAGAL CO-OPERATION BY H. DUNCAN HALL”
INSTITUTE OF PACIFIC RELATIONS, 1st CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 1925, (Honolulu, 1925) pp. 136-138.
This kind of abstract and optimistic attitude reflected the trends of liberalism and pacifism after World War I.
Coming to the second Hawaii IPR Conference, the discussions on the Peace Machinery materialized and were realized. This change was brought on by James T. Shotwell, professor of History at Columbia University, who was well known as the central figure for drafting the so-called Paris Peace Treaty. Shotwell presented “Draft Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and …”.
Shotwell drafted it keeping in mind that it should be accepted between Japan and the United States. Japanese IPR members criticized Part I, Article 2.
a. It was an exception which was made of the Monroe Doctrine. But Japanese members and liberal intellectuals knew well that the draft treaty was the attempt to state a compromise between American history and precedent and the new experiments by Shotwell; they supported his draft treaty in principle.
Nevertheless, they could not exert influence against the Japanese government to accept the draft treaty when the Paris Peace Treaty was politicalized as a domestic political issue. Since most Japanese IPR members were liberal intellectuals, and Japanese
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