Excellent must read to understand the origins of modern China. The WWI era and it's impact on China is one I did not know a lot about. Germany had a possession in China, that was taken over by Japan. At the Versailles Treat negotiations, China had an excellent case, unfortunately due to interests on perpetuating the imperial system, France and UK did not want to help China. If the UK and France had helped China, it would have thrown into doubt the morals of keeping their colonial possessions at the time. The US did not want to help, since per the article Japan had put into the treaty, a sentence about all races being equal. And at the time, unfortunately and shamefully, the US had a segregated society. The deal was to get rid of the sentence US President Woodrow Wilson, an idealist that wanted to prevent future wars by forming the League of Nations, backed Japan's interests, over China.

The Fateful Deception Behind a Century-Long Grudge Match - The American Interest

Labels: Chinese History