The Setting in the Far East, Ii

Abstract

The situation in China; the presence of the Soviet Union in the area; the interests and experiences of Japan: all these, when filtered through the perceptions of observers on the spot and in the capitals of the West, would be among the factors affecting the formulation and conduct of policy during the crisis of 1931–3. So, too, would the perceived interests, the immediate goals and the ultimate aspirations¹ of the Western powers themselves. The present section is therefore devoted to an examination of these further elements in the setting, and the following one to the means available to the West for the defence of its interests in the Far East. In each case, it will be seen that contemporaries differed widely in their estimates of the situation, and that, in retrospect, a considerable degree of distortion appears to have been present in several instances.