The Competition Between America And Japan And The Evolution Of Sea Power Structure In The Asia-Pacific Region (1906-1945)

At the end of 19 th century,with the development of the capitalist economy and the rapid increase of the United States and Japan's comprehensive national strength,the Sea Power of these two countries began to expanded rapidly.The strong naval strength had made these two countries a great success in the colonial expansion and gained considerable benefits of Asia-Pacific,which made a severely impact on the multi-polar balance of Sea Power structure dominated by European powers.With the development of the situation,the increasingly powerful two countries had gradually replaced the old colonial powers France and Russia,and became the new dominant force in the Sea Power structure in Asia-Pacific.Since then,The multi-polar balance of Sea Power Structure in Asia-Pacific led by the United Kingdom,France and Russia had evolved into a new situation dominated by Britain,Japan and the United States at the beginning of the 20 th century.However,in the course of their expansion,the United States and Japan had also accumulated profound contradictions due to the wide divergence of their interests in the Asia-Pacific region,which resulted in the long-term confrontation between these two countries in the first half of the 20 th century.The fierce struggle with these two countries had triggered a dramatic changes of the Sea Power Structure in Asia-Pacific.Taken the comparison of naval power and the change of the sphere of influence as standard,the evolution of the Sea Power Structure in Asia-Pacific could be roughly divided into three stages: The first phase was from the end of Russa-Japanese War in 1906 to the eve of Washington Conference on 1920.Japan had expanded on the Asia-Pacific region rapidly,and gradually established its dominant position in the Sea Power structure while the Western powers was busy with European affairs;The second phase were from the opening of Washington Conference on 1921 to the end of 1936 when Japan Was Withdrawal from disarmament negotiations.The United States had restored a balance of power with Japan in the Asia-Pacific region by creating a new international system named the Washington system,and successfully reversed its adverse situation in the competition with Japan before the WWI;The third phase were from the lapsed of the disarmament agreement on 1937 to the end of the Pacific War in 1945.In the early days,Japan had successfully established its maritime hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region through a series of measures,but it was not long before the United States turned this situation around by its comprehensive national strength which was far better than Japan.With Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945,The maritime hegemony of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region had been established.The multi-polar balance of Sea Power Structure of the Asia-Pacific region had been completely broken.