Nanshin-ron
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (October 2010) |
Nanshin-ron (南進論, "Southern Expansion Doctrine" or "Southern Road") was a political doctrine in the
The opposing political doctrine was
Meiji-period genesis
In Japanese historiography, the term nanshin-ron is used to describe Japanese writings on the importance to Japan of the South Seas region in the Pacific Ocean.[2] Japanese interest in Southeast Asia can be observed in writings of the Edo period (17th–19th centuries).[3]
During the final years of the Edo period, the leaders of the Meiji Restoration determined that Japan needed to pursue a course of imperialism in emulation of the European nations to attain equality in status with the West, as European powers were laying claim to territories ever closer to Japan.
After the
(1909).With increasing Japanese
Pacific Islands
The Japanese government began pursuing a policy of overseas migration in the late 19th century as a result of Japan's limited resources and increasing population. In 1875, Japan declared its control over the
However, World War I had a profound impact on the "Southern Expansion Doctrine" since Japan occupied vast areas in the Pacific that had been controlled by the German Empire: the Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands and Palau. In 1919, the island groups officially became a League of Nations mandate of Japan and came under the administration of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The focus of the "Southern Expansion Doctrine" expanded to include the island groups (the South Seas Mandate), whose economic and military development came to be viewed as essential to Japan's security.
Theoretical development
Meiji-period nationalistic researchers and writers pointed to Japan's relations with the Pacific region from the 17th-century
Nanshin-ron appeared in Japanese political discourse around the mid-1880s.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the "Southern Expansion Doctrine" gradually came to be formalized, largely through the efforts of the Imperial Japanese Navy's "South Strike Group," a strategic
In the Navy, the Anti-Treaty Faction (han-joyaku ha) opposed the Washington Treaty, unlike the Treaty Faction. The former set up a "Study Committee for Policies towards the South Seas" (Tai Nan'yō Hōsaku Kenkyū-kai) to explore military and economic expansion strategies and cooperated with the Ministry of Colonial Affairs (Takumu-sho) to emphasize the military role of Taiwan and Micronesia as advanced bases for further southern expansion.
Economic development
In 1920 the Foreign Ministry convened the Nan-yo Boeki Kaigi (South Seas Trade Conference), to promote South Seas commerce and published in 1928 Boeki, Kigyo oyobi imin yori mitaru Nan'yo ("The South Seas in View of Trade and Emigration"). The term Nan-yo kokusaku (National Policy towards the South Seas) first appeared.
The Japanese government sponsored several companies, including the Nan'yō Takushoku Kabushiki Kaisha (South Seas Colonization Company), the
The success of the Navy in the economic development of Taiwan and the
Increasing militarization
The Washington Naval Treaty had restricted the size of the Japanese Navy and also stipulated that new military bases and fortifications could not be established in overseas territories or colonies. However, in the 1920s, Japan had already begun the secret construction of fortifications in Palau, Tinian and Saipan.
To evade monitoring by the Western powers, they were camouflaged as places to dry fishing nets or coconut, rice, or sugar-cane farms, and Nan'yō Kohatsu Kaisha (South Seas Development Company) in co-operation with the Japanese Navy, assumed responsibility for construction.
The construction increased after the even more restrictive London Naval Treaty of 1930, and the growing importance of military aviation led Japan to view Micronesia to be of strategic importance as a chain of "unsinkable aircraft carriers" protecting Japan and as a base of operations for operations in south-west Pacific.
The Navy also began examining the strategic importance of
Adoption as national policy
In 1931, the "Five Ministers Meeting" defined the Japanese objective of extending its influence in the Pacific but excluded areas such as the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies and Java, which might provoke other countries.[4] Nanshin-ron became official policy after 1935[16] and was officially adopted as national policy with the promulgation of the Toa shin Chitsujo (New Order in East Asia) in 1936 at the "Five Ministers Conference" (attended by the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, Army Minister and the Navy Minister), with the resolution to advance south peacefully.
By the start of
Nanshin-ron policy in action during the Second World War
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan expected to capture the strategic islands across the Pacific to make it more challenging for the US to invade. Highly fortified islands would aim to inflict heavy casualties on the US troops and force America into signing a peace treaty. The Japanese strategy failed to consider island hopping, in which US marines would skip heavily defended islands and capture easier targets, which left the Japanese troops in the fortifications without supplies.
See also
- Axis power negotiations on the division of Asia
- Flying geese paradigm
- German-Japanese relations
- Pan-Asianism
- Southern Expeditionary Army Group
References
- ^ "Centrifugal Offensive". The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- JSTOR 25797650.
- ^ ISBN 9780415182058.
- ^ ISBN 9789004305724.
- .
- JSTOR 41493135.
- JSTOR 42632950.
- ^ Japanese Commodities and Formation of Japan Imagery in Colonial Indonesia: The Case Study of Jintan Pills and Its Trademark (PDF) (Dissertation). Keio University Graduate School of Sociology. 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
- ISBN 9789971692674.
- ^ ISBN 9781571812599.
- ISBN 9781621968689.
- ISBN 9789004253780.
- ISBN 9780824830502.
- ISBN 9789041119520.
- ISBN 9781351857949.
- ^ a b c Ramcharan 2002, p. 75.
Bibliography
- Beasley, W. G. (1991). Japanese Imperialism 1894–1945. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822168-5.
- Nish, Ian (1991). Japanese Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-94791-0.
- Howe, Christopher (1999). The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy: Development and Technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-35486-6.
- Peattie, Mark (1992). Nan'Yo: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia, 1885–1945 (Pacific Islands Monograph Series). University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1480-9.