AN EXAMINATION OF BRITAIN'S GEOPOLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE POST-WORLD WAR II PEACE TREATY WITH JAPAN
AN EXAMINATION OF BRITAIN'S GEOPOLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE POST-WORLD WAR II PEACE TREATY WITH JAPAN

Summary/Abstract: The British Peace Treaty with Japan was not just a security measure to prevent Japanese remilitarization, but also a document expressing Britain’s economic realpolitik. Britain was less concerned about stabilizing the Cold War and more devoted to decapitating Japan to prevent the latter from becoming a formidable threat to the British Commonwealth. The consistent preservation of the clauses concerning China suggests that Britain was willing to introduce Chinese interests in the Treaty because Britain was less concerned about China as a Communist country than China and Hong Kong as traditional markets for selling British goods. A full administration of victor’s justice towards Japan and the pursuit of economic realpolitik towards China and Hong Kong as valuable markets had a higher priority than maintaining an anti-Communist solidarity with the United States. For Britain, the solidarity and protection of her empire and market interests were far more important than a comparatively more nebulous protection of the “Free World” against Communism.

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