Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

114 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

thefirstsignsofwhatwouldbecomea traditionaltradeprobleminthe
relationsofthetwonationsastheJapaneseattempttokeepimportsout
andtheAmericansattempttoopenJapanesemarkets.
Thesepolicies involvedtheUnitedStatesveryearlyina complex
relationshipwithbothAsianandEuropeangovernments.Brieflystated,
theUnitedStates generallysidedwithEuropean governmentswhen
theissuesinvolvedtherightsofforeignerstotradeandthesecurityof
foreignersinAsiancountries.OntheotherhandtheUnitedStatesgen-
erallyopposedthepartitionandcolonizationofAsiancountriesbyEuro-
peanpowers,especiallyinthecaseofChina.
AsJapanoutstripped its neighbors inindustrial development,it
begantoseekequaltreatmentwithEuropeanpowersandtoestablisha
sphereofinfluenceinChinaandelsewheresimilartothosecreatedby
Europeancountries-andbytheUnitedStatesinitsownneighborhood.
TheUnitedStatesvehementlyopposedthis,notonlybecausea Japanese
empirewouldleadtoviolationsoftheopendoorand,possibly,setoffa
colonialscrambleinChinasimilartothepartitionofAfrica,butalso
becausea strongJapanseemedtoposea long-termthreattothesecurity
ofHawaiiandtheAmericanwestcoast.
SincethattimetheUnitedStateshasgenerallyfavoreda balance-of-
powerpolicyinAsia,supportingtheweakerpowersagainstthestronger
inthehopeofpreventingtheriseofanypowerthatcoulddominatethe
others.Until 1945 Japanwasthatpower,andtheUnitedStatesconsis-
tentlyopposeditsambitions.AftertheCommunistvictoryinChina,it
wasChina,inalliancewiththeSoviet Union,thatseemedtobethe
aspiringhegemon.Americanpolicy,stillbentonitstraditionalAsian
goals, switchedsides andsupporteda war-weakenedJapanagainsta
newlyvigorousChina.Itisatleastimaginablethatnewchangesinthe
AsianbalanceofpowerwillseetheUnitedStatesmakenewchangesin
itsalliances,butitis likelythatfortheforeseeablefuture,concernforthe
balanceofpowerinAsiawillremaina keyfactorinAmericanpolicy.

TheSpecialRelationship

AlthoughHamiltonianthinkingaboutAmericanforeignpolicywas

rootedintheBritishforeignpolicytradition,therewasoneextremely

importantdifferencebetweenthesituationsoftheUnitedStatesandthe

UnitedKingdom.ThatdifferencewastheUnitedKingdomitself.No