US "Open Door" Policy Toward China

Paper Summary:

This essay examines whether the US open door policy toward China was consistent and dependable in dealing with the factions during the Chinese civil war in China during 1940-49. The paper analyzes the background and origins of the "open door" policy which date back to the mid 19th century. The paper examines the "open door" policy in light of American isolationism and as the US became a world power following World War II. This policy of limited involvement with China directed US policy until the Chinese Civil War.

From the Paper:

" An important, though undeclared, corollary to the policy, however, was that the United States was not willing to risk war to enforce its open door policy and its main foreign policy interest lay in Europe rather than Asia. This resulted in a number of serious setbacks for the policy, particularly during the Sino-Japanese war as well as the Chinese Civil War in which the Nationalists and the Communists were engaged in a bitter civil war for power in the country. Since the US was unwilling to use force, the most it could do was to use diplomacy to enforce the "open door." Such a lukewarm approach in support of a policy could, at best, be only partially successful and when the 'open door' was pointedly ignored by the Japanese during its seizure of Manchuria in 1931 and the subsequent full-fledged Sino-Japanese war in 1937, the US could do little to prevent its violation."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Open Door Policy." Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy: Answers.com. 2007. February 26, 2007. <http://www.answers.com/topic/open-door-policy-1>
• Stueck, William Whitney. The Road to Confrontation: American Policy toward China and Korea, 1947-1950. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981.
• Tsou, Tang. America's Failure in China, 1941-50. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.

More papers on US "Open Door" Policy Toward China:

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• Research Paper # 21772 : "U.S. Policy toward China, from 1920 to 1951"
• Research Paper # 149867 : "Public Policy in China - Special Economic Zones (SEZs)"

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