Yamagata Aritomo’s Outlook On China And Its Evolution

Yamagata Aritomo,as the Genrō of the Meiji and Taisho eras,had the dual identities of military strategist and politician.This paper divides the evolution of Yamagata Aritomo’s outlook of China into three stages.This paper will clarify the course of Yamagata Aritomo’s outlook on China from its development and analyze why Yamagata Aritomo’s outlook on China changed and how it influenced the Japanese government’s decision towards China.The thought of foreign aggression put forward by Sato Nobuhiro,and Yoshida Shoyin profoundly impacted on Yamagata Aritomo’s understanding of foreign countries in his youth,which made Yamagata Aritomo pay more attention to the opportunity to invade China.Yamagata Aritomo’s theory of “Line of Interests” and “Line of Sovereignty” was the inheritance and development of the outlook on China of the late Tokugawa era.In the early Meiji period,the argument of “avoiding wars with China” became the keynote of Yamagata Aritomo’s outlook of China.Yamagata Aritomo,founding the modern Army of Japan,argued that the Meiji government should not provoke a fight with China in the 1870 s and 1880 s,based on the Japanese armaments,internal conflict in the Meiji government,Russian threats,and China’s westernization movement.Be different from other politicians,Yamagata Aritomo put forward a relatively conservative defensive strategy,which advocated diplomacy to solve the Sino—Japanese dispute.However,Yamagata Aritomo’s argument of “avoiding wars with China” was to prepare for Sino—Japanese war through a strategy of holding back to strengthen its coastal defence and army.In the middle Meiji period,under the background of Sino—French War and the game between Britain and Russia in East Asia,the strengthening of China was fell and Japan rose.Yamagata Aritomo’s outlook on China changed from “avoiding war against China” to“intensifying aggression against China”.After the Sino—Japanese War,Yamagata Aritomo advocated radical expansion to China in the frenzy of foreign powers carving up China.Based on the theory of “line of interests” and “line of sovereignty”,Yamagata Aritomo demanded strengthening Korea’s control as a springboard for his aggression against China.In the later Meiji period and around the first world war,Yamagata Aritomo’s new strategy towards China was to consolidate Japan’s interests in China,which gained during the Sino—Japanese and Russo—Japanese wars,and gradually realize Japan’s imperialism over China.Fearing that excessive invasion of China would lead to the alertness of Britain and The United States against Japan,relying on the Japan—Britain alliance and Russo—Japanese agreement,Yamagata Aritomo,from the age of 70,proposed the theory of “Preservation of Interests of Manchuria and Mongolia” to consolidate Japan’s vested interests in Manchuria and East Inner Mongolia.To avoid the instability of China’s political situation endangered Japan’s rights in China,Yamagata Aritomo advocated achieving Japan’s control over China’s political situation by courting the Beiyang government.In a word,from the late Tokugawa era to the Taisho era,Yamagata Aritomo’s outlook on China was based on the domestic,regional and international situation,which aimed to foreign expansion,guided the Japanese government and presenting a view of “wave—like rise”invasion of China.In the government’s decision’s making,Yamagata Aritomo’s conservative and tough attitude towards China will change in different periods according to the changes of medium strength,medium weakness and foreign strength.As the traditional narrative suggests,the evolution of Yamagata Aritomo’s outlook on China is not a consistent and radical proposition of aggression against China.It is a realistic view of aggression against China with conservatism as its keynote.