After both Japan and Russia issued declarations of war, they regrouped and prepared for another war, while they stepped up their propaganda and sought supporters for themselves internationally.

Russia was the first to attack, accusing Japan of being despicable and shameless in its undeclared war, while Russia was a war of self-defense after being attacked by a sneak attack, and it turned out the old stalk of the First Sino-Japanese War, and Japan also went to war without declaring war, proving that Japan is a despicable and shameless country, so it called on all countries to condemn Japan and support Russia's just war.

France first responded to the voice of its allies, arguing that Japan's actions did violate international law, but at the same time expressed the hope that Japan and Russia would stop the war and resolve their disputes peacefully.

In fact, the mentality of the French is very complicated, of course they do not want Russia to sink too deep in the Far East, if Russia concentrates too much attention on the East, it must make good relations with Germany and relieve their worries, but this will inevitably affect the Franco-Russian alliance, because the main goal of the Franco-Russian alliance is Britain and Germany, and now the relations between France and Britain have been significantly relaxed, and Germany has risen to become France's number one enemy. Therefore, France does not want Russia to win this war, only if Russia is defeated in the Far East, will it turn its eyes to the European side again, but France is afraid that Russia will lose too badly, after all, Japan has the help of Britain, and there is also the East China government as a collaborator, it may not be easy to deal with, if Russia's vitality is greatly damaged, then the influence on Germany is limited, which is also not good for France.

As a result, France only paid lip service to its allies, and at the same time expressed the hope that the two countries would stop the war and renegotiate, although France was well aware that this was impossible, but it was also necessary to show its allies its attitude.

With the exception of France, however, international public opinion did not condemn Japan as Russia had hoped. Dr. Holland, an expert in international law at the University of Oxford, published an article in The Times, claiming that "a declaration of war is not necessary for war, and Japan has not undermined the basic laws of war." The reason is that the current international law does not stipulate that war must be declared before war, and in the previous 150 years, about 110 wars broke out, of which only 7 were declared before the use of force, so the declaration of war was not a necessary condition for starting a war.

Wolsey, a professor at Yale University in the United States, also openly declared: "It is inappropriate to use treachery and improper evaluation of Japan's attack on Russian warships." This is because the issuance of a declaration of war is only to let the people and neutral countries know the nature and reasons for the war. Moreover, in the letter of severance of diplomatic relations submitted by Japan to Russia, it is understood that "the government reserves the right to take the most appropriate independent action in order to protect its own rights and interests" to include the means of war, so Japan's actions are beyond reproach, and Russia itself can only be blamed for its lack of awareness of prevention. ”

The German "Neue Liberty" newspaper published an article mentioning that in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, Russia also undeclared war in this way, and now Japan is just a means learned from Russia, and the tone is full of schadenfreude.

When Japan and Russia went to war, Britain, Germany, and the United States were all happy to see and support Japan, and Britain needless to say, the Anglo-Japanese alliance was established against Russia, and now that the relationship between Britain and France has eased, the British have begun to play a big game of chess, fully supporting Japan to attack Russia, so that Russia's strength is weakened, and the help to France will be limited, and France can only turn to Britain for help in order to counter Germany. Then Britain can pull France to the same front as itself, while Russia loses in the Far East and can only return to Europe to seek expansion, which will inevitably intensify the contradictions with Germany, and Britain and France can take the opportunity to pull Russia again, forming a situation in which the three countries jointly fight against Germany. In the Far East, even if Japan defeated Russia, it still needed the support of Britain because of the rise of the East China government, and Britain could use Japan to maintain the situation in the Far East.

The United States does not think as much as Britain, and the current United States is still the beneficiary of the international order led by Britain, and the United States is actually the biggest beneficiary of the free trade led by Britain, so the United States hopes to maintain the status quo in the Far East, while Russia's expansion, which is regarded by the United States as a destroyer of order, naturally hopes to stop Russia's expansion. However, the United States has mainly economic interests in the Far East, not many geopolitical interests, so it is not as nervous as Britain, and the isolationist sentiment at home is still very serious, and the military power is not strong, so it can only support Japan economically.

On the one hand, Germany hoped that Russia would throw its forces to the east, so as to reduce its pressure in the east, and to destroy the Franco-Russian alliance and draw Russia back into its camp, so Germany continued to show its support for the war against Japan and was even willing to provide Russia with necessary help; on the other hand, Germany hoped that Japan would weaken Russia's strength so that it could better control Russia, so Germany supported Japan, but Kaiser Wilhelm II had his own explanation for Germany's contradictory behavior: that is, whether Japan and Russia win, it would be beneficial to Germany。 In fact, Germany's influence in the Far East was extremely limited, and no matter which side it supported, it could not play a role.

Although the great powers had their own plans, on the whole, most of the countries of the world did not express opposition to Japan's undeclared war and issued declarations of neutrality. This is, of course, the outcome that Japan would like to see.

The East China Government also convened an executive meeting on the afternoon of February 1 0 to study the course of the Russo-Japanese War and the East China Government's response.

So far, 27 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Siam, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, and Argentina, have issued declarations of neutrality. ”

Jia Zhenzhao said with a smile: "This is very interesting! Little Japan is still able to get so much support for its undeclared war trick, and it still talks about the truth in such a high-sounding manner, is this still embarrassing?" ”

Wang Yunpeng said: "Forget it, Western countries have always been like this, when do we have to have a face, we have not experienced it in the old time and space, laundry detergent, white helmets, these are the festivals of Western countries." ”

Ye Yanfu said: "Guan Jian is interests, interests, interests, important things must be said three times, as long as it is beneficial to his country, anything can be sold, what is the face? ”

At this time, Qin Zheng said: "Actually, this is really not wrong, because the international treaties that officially stipulate that war must be declared before the start of war are stipulated in the Hague Convention No. 3 in 1907, also called the "Convention on the Commencement of War", so in the current international law, there are indeed no relevant provisions, and it can only be regarded as an unwritten habit, so theoretically speaking, Japan did not declare war in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, and it was determined that it did not violate international law, and only a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was a violation of the [Hague International Convention] Of course, it is generally unpopular to use sneak attack tactics, but with so many countries supporting Japan, we can only blame Russia for its own poor character, and most countries probably have no good impression of Russia. ”

At present, the East China government is still outside the war, so the atmosphere of the discussion is relatively relaxed, and most of them are in a mocking tone.

At this time, Xiao Jianjun said: "Everyone, don't think that this has nothing to do with us, because if we participate in the war, it is very likely that the war will be undeclared, and I don't know if the international public opinion at that time is beneficial or unfavorable to us?"

Qin Zheng said: "Don't think about it, it will definitely be unfavorable to us, our situation will be worse than Russia, after all, Russia is the victim now, and we have almost no say in the international community at present, because our participation in the war will definitely not be in line with the interests of Britain, France, the United States and other countries, and they basically control the international discourse, and when the time comes, they will definitely create international public opinion to put pressure on us, so we must be prepared for this." ”

Li Sanjie suddenly became a little nervous and said, "What should we do then? Aren't we very passive in diplomacy?"

Xia Bohai said: "What should we do? Don't worry about diplomatic matters, first of all, we basically have no formal diplomatic relations at present, and even with Germany is also a half-official and half-private nature, Comrade Li Sanjie, please don't mind, this is a fact, and it is not your responsibility, so there is no passivity. ”

When Li Sanjie heard this, he had to smile awkwardly.

Xia Bohai added: "Secondly, the current international relations are still dominated by the law of the jungle, the winner is king, the winner takes all, the system of international law is not perfect, and the influence of international public opinion is still extremely limited, so as long as we achieve victory on the battlefield is the most important thing." ”

Qin Zheng also nodded and said, "Yes, what you can't get on the battlefield can't be obtained at the negotiation table, and if you get it on the battlefield, you won't lose it at the negotiation table." ”

Xia Bohai said: "So what we should do, or how to do it, once we intervene in the war, how to fight, how to fight, don't have any scruples, things other than the war, the government will deal with it, the army only needs to fight the war, and win the war." ”

Xiao Jianjun also nodded and said, "Okay, it's easy to do with this sentence." ”

At this time, Xu Jichao said: "Now that many countries have issued statements and expressed their attitudes, should we also issue a statement and express our attitudes?"

Wang Yunpeng frowned and said, "Of course it is appropriate to make a statement, but Guan Jian is what attitude we should have, so we should not declare neutrality as well." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Neutrality must not be declared, in the old time and space, the Qing court is to declare neutrality in the Russo-Japanese War, and demarcate the war zone, and has been criticized by later generations as a traitor, of course, for the Qing court, the traitorous treaty has been signed too much, and it is not bad for this one, anyway, it is too much to scratch the child; we are different, once we also declare neutrality, then the image we have established before of being tough on the outside world, safeguarding national interests, and not fearing the power of various countries will also be completely destroyed, and even destroy our ruling foundation. ”