A Study Of American Policy Towards Korea (1882-1905)

Due to the feature of geopolitics,Korea had become to the arena of powers since its opening and had been a centralized reflection of the complicated international relations in Northeast Asia.As the first western country that established diplomatic relations with Korea,American policy had significant influence on this country and the pattern of Northeast Asia.This thesis takes American policy towards Korea from 1882 to 1905 as the research subject,aiming to analyze the essence,features and influences of the policy.This thesis is divided into three parts: the Introduction,the main body and the Conclusion.Chapter 1: the Introduction.This part mainly introduces the academic value and practical significance of this subject,analyzes the domestic and overseas research status,sorts out the basic structure and research methods of this thesis,and summarizes the innovations and deficiencies of this study.Chapter 2: The establishment of America–Korea diplomatic relations.On the basis of reviewing the early contacts between America and Korea,this chapter makes a comprehensive analysis of the process and influence of the establishment of America-Korea relations.The earliest contact between the two countries dated back to the ginseng trade in China in the mid-18 th century.In the mid-19 th century,the bilateral relations developed into Korea's friendly rescued of wrecked American merchant ships in Korean waters.The “General Sherman” incident that occurred in 1866 broke the friendly atmosphere between them,and resulted in the first non-governmental military conflict between the two sides.The Low-Rodgers Expedition in 1871 was the first official contact between America and Korea,and triggered the first military conflict which was known as “Sinmiyangyo” between the governments.The Low-Rodgers Expedition was a reflection of American “gunboat diplomacy”,and its failure caused America to change its policy towards Korea to diplomatic interference through other countries.In 1882,the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between America and Korea was signed with the help of Qing government,and the America–Korea relations was final established.The signing of this treaty made the United States to become to the first western country to open the door of Korea.As the first unequal treaty signed with a western power,the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between America and Korea started a frenzy of other western powers signing unequal treaties with Korea.This accelerated the collapse of the suzerain-vassal relations between China and Korea,and therefore changed the East Asia pattern.Chapter 3: American policy towards Korea from the 1880 s to the early 1890s: from supporting Korean independence to “neutrality”.This chapter reveals the essence and the features of the American policy towards Korea through studying the policy before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.This period witnessed the establishment of the American policy towards Korea.After the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides,the American policy towards Korea was relatively positive.Shortly thereafter,the downgrading of the American Minister to Korea and the resignation of Lucius H.Foote marked the beginning of being marginalized of American policy towards Korea.When the Port Hamilton incident occurred,American policy towards Korea was finally adjusted to “neutrality” policy.With the strengthening of the Qing government's control of Korea,America continued to adhere to the “neutrality” policy on the basis of limited support for Korean independence.The essence of the “neutrality” policy was the policy of favoring of Korea under the guise of neutrality.Because of the different standpoint of the policy,the policy of this period had a feature which was the differences of the political view between the American government and the American diplomatic representatives to Korea.The reason of the differences of the political view was that the American government formulated its policy towards Korea based on its establishment of the East Asia strategy,taking American general interests in East Asia and the whole world into consideration,while the American diplomatic representatives to Korea saw Korea as the standpoint of the policy,thinking about American interests in Korea only.Chapter 4: American policy towards Korea during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: from joint mediation to individual mediation.This chapter reveals the changes and its corresponding reasons of the American policy towards Korea during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.The American policy towards Korea during the War staged a trilogy of joint mediation,expressing “regret” and individual mediation.Before the outbreak of the War,America initially adopted a policy of actively participating in joint mediation against the “neutrality” policy.Soon afterwards,America opposed to participate in all forms of joint mediation and expressed “regret” to Japanese misdeed from which America regressed to “neutrality” policy.After the outbreak of the War,America continued to adhere to the “neutrality” policy in the way of individual mediation.The reason why America stuck to joint mediation,which turned against the traditional “neutrality” policy before the outbreak of the War was due to the personal reasons of the American President S.G.Cleveland and the Secretary of State W.Q.Gresham.Because of the factors that the United States didn't want the European powers to interfere too much to Korean affairs,the catalysis of American media,as well as the secondary position of Korea in American foreign policies,America finally regressed to its “neutrality” policy.Although America repeatedly claimed to be “neutral”,it actually took the policy of favoring of Japan under the guise of neutrality.That was because America wanted to eradicate the suzerain-vassal relations between China and Korea,and to weaken European powers' influence in Korea with the help of Japan,as while as American media further encouraged the decision of such policy.Chapter 5: American policy towards Korea in the late 19 th century: from “neutrality” to “absolute neutrality”.This chapter,by analyzing the change of American policy towards Korea from post Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to William Mc Kinley period,summarizes the features and essence of the policy as well as the reasons for the changing of the policy.Shortly after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895,faced with the fighting for Korea between Russia and Japan,American government maintained its “neutrality” policy,while its diplomatic representatives to Korea took a different approach of active interference.Once again,the contradictions appeared.With times of endeavor from the American government,the American diplomatic representatives eventually aligned with the “neutrality” policy.During the William Mc Kinley period,American policy towards Korea was adjusted to “absolute neutrality”.Although it was only a change in the strength of execution,it indicated the further marginalized of American policy towards Korea.This change attributed to the personal factors of William Mc Kinley and Horace N.Allen.In addition,the development of American East Asia policy and the outbreak of American-Spanish War were also critical factors could not be overlooked.Although America claimed to maintain “neutral” or “absolute neutrality”,it actually took the policy of favoring of Japan under the guise of neutrality.It was because America wanted to make the use of Japan to form a confrontation with Russia,and thus protect the interests of America in Korea.Chapter 6: American policy towards Korea between the beginning of the 20 th century and 1905: from acquiescence to abandonment.This chapter made a concrete analysis of the adjustment and essence of American policy towards Korea from Theodore Roosevelt took office as the President of the United States to 1905.Mr.Theodore Roosevelt's personal thoughts had a major influence on American policy towards Korea in this period of adjustment.Since the beginning of Russo-Japanese War,America had established the “absolute neutrality” policy,which in fact was an acquiescence of Japanese aggression in face of its constant aggression against Korea.The signing of Taft–Katsura Agreement was a key point of American policy towards Korea,because after that America walked on the track of abandoning Korea.The announcement of withdrawal of American minister to Korea marked the end of American final abandonment of Korea and the temporary ending of American policy towards Korea.From Theodore Roosevelt took office to 1905,America in fact adopted the policy of favoring Japan,aiming to take advantage of Japan to contain Russia and to sacrifice Korea to gain Japanese acknowledgement of American capturing of Philippines.The fact that America sacrificed Korea to gain Japanese acknowledgement of its capturing of Philippines indicated that the standpoint of American policy towards Korea was all about its national interests and that Korea was nothing but an abandoned pawn to realize these interests.In a word,the making and implementation of American policy towards Korea from 1882 to 1905 showed the principle of American national interests coming first in American foreign policies,and the cultural differences between the East and the West.Judging from their contents,American policy towards Korea in this period never went beyond the “neutrality” policy,but in fact it was only the policy of favoritism under the guise of neutrality,and according to the American interests the object of the favoritism policy was changed in different times.As a typical feature of American policy towards Korea,the contradiction of political views between the American government and its diplomatic representatives to Korea prevailed from the late 19 th century to the early 20 th century,and therefore manifested the contradiction between general and partial interests in American foreign policy.