Ryukyu, In The Eyes Of American In The Middle Of The19th Century-focusing On The Activities Of Perry’s Squadron In Ryukyu

Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan isan official report being submitted after the USS East India squadron (Perry’s squadron)returned back to America, which is a precious record in research Ryukyu Kingdom ofthe second half of the nineteenth Century. In Narrative of the expedition of anAmerican squadron to the China seas and Japan records, Ryukyu Kingdom tried tokeeping the identity of a vassal state of East Asian tributary system, keeping in touchwith China in terms of tribute trade and accepting canonization, and maintained theidentity with the inheritance of Chinese culture. At the same time, Ryukyu Kingdomhad to endure the press and control from Satsuma domain of Japan, while Ryukyumust maintain its image of “independent country” to foreign countries. Visibly, theRyukyu was in an embarrassing state of foreign relations. The "sovereignty" ofRyukyu kingdom belongs to China, the "governance" of which belongs to Japan.However, this "sovereignty" of China is a unique right which is a symbol of a vassalstate and suzerain in the East Asian tributary system. The "governance" of Japan wasenforced in Ryukyu through "consul" and "garrison" of direct controlled by Satsumadomain in Bakuhan Taisei. The national consciousness and the self localization ofRyukyu is that Ryukyu is a vassal state of China and Japan is a neighbor of Ryukyu.However, the former is a conscious identity to culture and value, and the latter is ahelpless and false cognation. So, the embarrassing relationships between Ryukyu andChina, Ryukyu and Japan were the legal position of Ryukyu, but the two relationshipsare widely different.However, the USA has a special mentality to Ryukyu which mix the superiority of"civilized" sense and the consciousness of power and expansion. Out of strategicconsideration, America the emerging power plan to take Ryukyu into its strategic frame called “Pacific Empire”, and transforms the Ryukyu Islands into the strategicpoints in order to achieve the purpose of strategic expansion of the USA in the FarEast and the Pacific. On the other hand, the sense of superiority from the "civilizedworld" also makes Americans believe that they have a responsibility to educate theRyukyu people, and to "rescue" the "oppressive" the Ryukyu people from the"tyranny", and even make contribution for the progress and development of theRyukyu Kingdom itself to take it into the "civilized world". Both of the two factorsinteracted, which impacted the observation and action of the staff of Perry’s squadronon and in Ryukyu. It was the commodore Perry that can not be neglected in the both of the twoaspects of ideas and specific behaviors.In any case, the motivation of strategic expansion is much more important than the "spreading ofcivilization". When they are engaged in conflicts,"civilization" can’t be competed with power,and the justice and truth are ignored. Perry’s squadron was still in strong means to forceRyukyu to accept the local impact of the USA established there, which is in order to realize thestrategic interests of the USA. This point played most incisively in the criminal cases in which thestaff of Perry’s squadron was involved. And this kind of attitude and practice, impacts on theforeign policy of the USA in the following one and half century directly. There are traces whichare still visible until today.