Continental Policy of Japan as Seen from France: From Manchurian Incident to China Incident

This article analyzes the responses of French analysts and journalists to a then new phase of Japanese expansion into China known as the Manchurian Incident and to a new balance of power after the establishment of the puppet-state Manchukuo under the total control of Japan. The League of Nations as well as the governments of almost all Great Powers condemned Japan’s action as aggression and violation of international law, but French analysts, first of all thinking about preserving and strengthening the country’s position in French Indochina, discussed the arguments of both sides according to their own political positions. A former legal advisor to several Chinese national governments Professor Jean Escarra simply ignored Manchukuo’s existence. Legal advisor of the Japanese embassy in Paris, Doctor of Law Jean Ray called Manchukuo “an experience worth being attempted and helped”. Doctor of Law A.R. Tullie viewed Manchukuo’s establishment as fully legal and according to the Nine Powers Treaty of 1922. Known for her critical attitude to militarism and colonialism, the “queen of great reportage” Andree Viollis (1870-1950) in her books Shanghai and China s Destiny (1933) and Japan and Her Empire (1933), written after visiting China and Japan, considered the broadening of the Japanese expansion into China as a manifestation of “fascist” (radical Nationalist and conservative-revolutionary) tendencies inside the country and also gave a sarcastic description of Japanese attempts to look like Europeans in her book Intimate Japan (1934). Journalist Maurice Lachin (1909-1977) visited Japan, Korea, and Manchukuo, talked to well-informed and influential people and was able to produce a full-scale panorama of the current situation with quite objective analysis according to the traditions of the “great reportage” in his book Japan 1934 (1934). Secretary of the Committee for Pacific Problems Study Roger Levy (1887-1975) became highly valued as a good expert on the Far Eastern situation after a series of works with an “equidistant” view of the Sino-Japanese conflict. A study of French opinion and response to the Japanese continental policy will enrich our knowledge of this period and will help us to understand better its political philosophy as well as the working of the propaganda and image-making systems.

Japan, France, Manchukuo, China, journalism, expansion, protectorate, security

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