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86_86661Chen Zhong said that in the early Meiji period, Japan adopted a strategy of "distant friendship and close attack" in its foreign policy:

On the one hand, "breaking away from Asia and joining Europe" will achieve the goal of revising unequal treaties with European and American powers and sitting on an equal footing;

On the one hand, it joined the competition of the great powers in the Asia-Pacific region and carried out expansionist aggression against its neighbors, so as to jointly break the "Huayi order" and establish Japan's status as the "master of the Oriental Alliance." Writing and Fun: Cabinet www.biquge.info Focusing on the Korean and Ryukyu issues, Japan's Asia-Pacific policy has begun to emerge.

For nearly a century, Japan has been expounding the concept of Huayi, believing that they are the center of the world, and that all countries and nations are Yi.

This concept of Huayi can be traced back to the early Huaxia people. At that time, the Huaxia people were a fusion of some Yidi barbarians and other ethnic groups, so the so-called difference between Huayi and Yi was not only a difference between nationalities and regions, but also a cultural distinction between high and low.

In ancient times, people often used the symmetry of "Xia" and "Barbarian", or "Hua" and "Yi", that is, to use culture and race as the criterion for distinguishing the noble and the lowly, thus forming the view that Huaxia is superior to Yidi.

In fact, in the relatively isolated geographical environment of ancient East Asia, China was the only center of civilization, and the sinicization of a barbarian nation reflected the degree of civilization to a large extent, and Huayi thought was born in this background.

In the exchanges between the Chinese people and the surrounding ethnic groups, friendly exchanges are the mainstream, and confrontation and collision are inevitable.

From a geopolitical point of view, in order for Japan to develop outward, whether it was to enter the Asian continent in the north or the sea in the south, it was necessary to first solve the Korean and Ryukyu issues.

In view of this, the newly established Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1869, mainly to resolve the Korean issue, proposed to Japan and approved the policy of "Nisshin negotiations first." By signing the Treaty of Reconciliation and the Treaty of Trade, Japan was granted equal status with China in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time, and conditions were created for opening up relations with North Korea.

In February 1876, Japan forced Korea to sign the unequal Treaty of Ganghwa, which opened the door to Korea and took the first step in mainland policy; At the same time, it also denied the vassal relationship between the Qing Dynasty and Korea, and began to break the "Huayi order" in East Asia.

In 1879, the Ryukyu Domain was abolished and changed to Okinawa Prefecture. The fall of the Ryukyu Kingdom tore a corner of the "Huayi Order" in East Asia, "which was a prelude to the cutting off of all tributary subjects one by one, such as Annam, Korea, and Burma."

Like its attempts to move north into the Asian continent toward Korea, Japan's annexation of the Ryukyus and its invasion of Taiwan, China, also exposed its ambitions to advance southward.

With the implementation of the policy of "enriching the country and strengthening the military" in the early Meiji period and the expansion of armaments, Japan's foreign policy of expanding into the Asia-Pacific region by force from the north and south while making peace with the European and American powers has become relatively clear. And the implementation of such a policy will inevitably point the spearhead at China in the end.

Prime Minister Yamayama Prefecture delivered his first speech on the policy of administration at the first session of Japan's Diet, in which he made public his foreign proposition of "maintaining the country and asserting its national strength": "There are two ways to defend the country's self-defense: one is to protect the line of sovereignty, and the other is to protect the line of interests.

The so-called sovereignty line is the territory of the country. The so-called line of interest is the area that is closely related to the security of the line of sovereignty. If the line of sovereignty and interests is not maintained, the country will not be a country. In order to maintain the sovereignty line of a country, it is not enough to protect the line of interests."

The above-mentioned "line of interests" proposition and speech by Aritomo Yamaguchi indicate that the Asia-Pacific policy, which is the national policy of modern Japan, with the mainland policy as the mainstay, has basically taken shape.

During the military operations phase of the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan's strategic policy toward China was to gradually change from the Korean Peninsula to the Shandong Peninsula and the Taiwan Island, starting with the Liaodong Peninsula in the northeast.

It reflects Japan's attempt to implement its Asia-Pacific policy in both northward and southward directions. The process of changing this strategic policy also includes the differences and struggles between the two important figures in the implementation of the policy, Aritomo Yamaguchi and Hirobumi Ito.

At the end of November 1894, the First Army led by Youpeng in Shan County, in cooperation with the Second Army, captured most of the Liaodong Peninsula. He decided to continue the attack on Shanhaiguan according to the predetermined plan, launch the Zhili Operation, and then capture Beijing.

But his claim was opposed by Hirobumi Ito. At the headquarters meeting on 4 December, Ito put forward a proposal to "attack Weihai and take Taiwan," advocating the formation of another army, crossing the sea to attack Weihaiwei, annihilating the rest of the Beiyang Fleet, and working with the Liaodong Peninsula to "choke the key to the Bohai Sea." At the same time, "it is necessary to take the southward direction to seize Taiwan as a great plan."

Because in Japan at that time, "the number of people who believed that the Taiwan Islands would be owned by us as the result of the war was increasing in the late years between the government and the opposition"; Japan must first occupy it with military forces as a basis for ceding Taiwan in a post-war peace treaty.

Under the situation of controlling the Bohai Sea and threatening Zhili, Japan quickly began the operation to capture Taiwan, and at the same time set up the "Zhengqing Grand Governor's Office" in Lushun to continue to maintain military pressure on the Zhili area.

Qing was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan on April 17, ending the war. Through this treaty, Japan overthrew China's suzerainty over Korea. The occupation of Taiwan as a colony fulfilled Japan's dream of 20 years since 1874, and Taiwan became a springboard for Japan's invasion of South China, the Nanyang Islands, and Southeast Asia, thus opening the prelude to modern Japan's southward expansion.

The First Sino-Japanese War was an important stage in the implementation of Japan's Asia-Pacific policy in modern times, and Japan gained bases from the north and south to the Asian continent, and laid the foundation for continuing to advance northward and southward into the Asia-Pacific region.

At the same time, it not only defeated the old and weak Qing Empire, but also forcibly separated Korea, Ryukyu and other vassals, thus breaking the old "Huayi order" in the Asia-Pacific region, achieving the goal of "breaking away from Asia and joining Europe," and opening up the way for it to dominate the Asia-Pacific region.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan's focus shifted to "defending the north and advancing south" not only because South China and even the South Seas were also the established development direction of its Asia-Pacific policy, but also because in the north, Russia had vigorously expanded its influence in northeast China after taking the lead in intervening in Japan and returning Liao, and replaced China's dominant position in Korea.

The intensification of the contradictions between Japan and Russia in the north heralded a new war for contention. In the above-mentioned opinion, Yama Prefecture Youpeng also said: "If we want to bring Korea under our sphere of influence, we must first have the determination to start a war against Russia, and only with this determination can we achieve the goal of running the north."

For this reason, Japan has actively prepared for war under the slogan of "lying on the salary and tasting the courage." At the same time, taking advantage of the contradictions between Britain and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region, the first alliance treaty was signed with Britain in January 1902 to win Britain's support for the war against Russia as a means of resolving the "Manchurian-Korean question". From February 1904, Japan and Russia fought a major war on Chinese soil.

The Russo-Japanese War was coming to an end, and the current situation was very clear, and the outcome of Russia's defeat was inevitable.

As a result, Japan is bound to become the only imperialist country in the Asian region, and while speeding up its annexation of Korea and vigorously managing South Manchuria, it will quickly join the imperialist powers in a new round of struggle for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region in the process of revising unequal treaties with the European and American powers.

Our Chinese nation has become the prize of this competition. In the face of the ambitions of the Japanese, how can we in Hainan sit idly by?

When the iron hooves of the robbers have stepped into our homeland, all our Chinese sons and daughters will take up arms to fight to the death against the powers that invade our homeland.

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