Figure 1.--This American political cartoon was published in 1900. It was part of the domestic debate over imperialism raging at ther time in the aftermath of the Spanish American War (1898-99). It depicts the mostly European Treaty Poweers carving up China while the American Eagle looks on, staying out of the fray. This was just at the time that American Secrertary of State John Hay announced the American proposal for an Open Door Policy. Even without knowing the date, we could tell about when it was created. Notice that the main protagonists were Tsarist Russia and Great Britain. After the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), Japan began to be seen as the major threat to the Open Door and Chinese territorial integrity. We are not sure ytet who the illkusdtrator was. It may be John S. Pughe, but we are not sure.

The United States promoted what it called the Open Door Policy when Japan and European countries began enforcing restrictive policies in their treaty ports. The United States was concerned that the Treaty Powers would monopolize trade. It was unclear just where this would lead. China might have been broken up into economic sectors dominated by the various Treaty Powers and the eventual colonization of China. These developments in China coresponded to an economic downturn in America--the Depression of 1893. American misionries had inspired an interest in China. The 1890s Depression generated increased interest in foreign markets. And after the Spanish American War and the acquisition of the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii which also generated increased interest in China. As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United Ststes had become az Pacific power. Until that time, the American focus had been not exclusively, but largely, focused on Europe and the Atlantic. American textile manufacturers were very sucessful selling inexpensive cotton textiles. And as America became the world's msajor industrial power, the Chinmese market looked inviting. The alure was China's huge popultion epitomized by the slogan--'Oil for the lamps of China'. The United States had not demanded a treaty port from Chin and instead traded through the Treaty Ports established by the European powers, especially the British ports. The United States during the Presidency of William McKinley announced the Open Door Policy. The idea was strongly promoted by Secretary of State John Hay (1898-1905). The Sate Deprtment issued two 'Open Door' notes concerning international trade relations with China (1899 anbd 1900). The Open Door policy promoted the idea that all countries with an imperial interest in China should accept a free and open trade policy in China. The Open Door policy, however, included the idea that all interested parties should accept and respect Chinese territorial integrity. This would soon bring the United States into coflict, not with the European Treaty powers, but with the growing Japanese Empire which had much more expansive designs on China. Secretary Hay was attempting to counter the spread of Treaty Ports and increasingly restictive the various Treaty powes were adopting. The United States after the Spanish-American War also began maintaing a squadron in China. At the time when first issued the United States was especially concerned about Russian advances in northern China. After the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), Americn diplomsats and naval plannbers became increasing comcerned with Imperial Japan. [Pash] The completion of the Panama Canal added to the Pacific thinking and increasingly interest in China. The Open Door was finally ended after World War I when Chiang Kai-Check's Nationalists (KMT) ended the Treaty Ports--except for Shanghai and Hong Kong (1920s).

Sources

Pash, Sidbey. The Currents of War A New History of American-Japanese Relations, 1899-1941 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2014).