White Male V. Chinese/japanese

Blessing Kwiyup March 26, 2006

Period 2 Essay

White/Male vs. Chinese/ Japanese

As the United States matured as a country the concept "new imperialism" intensified its foreign involvement with other countries. The U.S. became very friendly with China in the early 1900s refusing to rape China of all its goods as other world super powers had. U.S. relations with China and Japan remained at agreeable as long as it was oversees but when it was on United States soil, the white male yet again began to feel more superior to the Asians.

The dawn of the 19th century began with a "sphere of influence" in China by five of the world powers meaning that they could dominate trade and investment within their sphere. The U.S. intervened and called for an Open-Door policy which gave all nations equal trading rights with China. The United States intervened again in China when the Boxer rebellion occurred in 1900 giving the U.S. power yet again in China. U.S and Chinese relations were not always in fair terms. In 1882, the U.S passed the Chinese Exclusion act banning Chinese laborers from American soil because the Chinese heavily populated the U.S. But through out the 20th century U.S and Chinese relations stayed at an agreeable pace. The threat of China becoming a communist nation in the 1950's led the U.S to intervene unsuccessfully trying to "contain communism" At this point the United States realized that China is its own country and the U.S cannot baby-sit them forever. China became recognized as Communist China in1979

On the Other hand, Japan and the United States were never in good terms. A major cause of friction between the U.S. and Japan were a set of laws passed in California, which discriminated against the Japanese. Roosevelt arranged the "gentlemen's agreement" in which the Japanese government agreed to restrict the emigration of Japanese workers in the U.S. In 1908, the U.S and Japan signed the Root-Takahira Agreement pledging that both countries will show mutual respect fro each nation's Pacific possessions. Though the United States tried vigorously to dominate Japan, the Japanese always fought hard to come to an accommodation with the U.S never backing down when the wanted to acquire something. Though Japan knew that the act of bombing Pearl Harbor on December