| dc.description.abstract | In September 1931, an explosion occured on the Southern Manchurian Railroad line near the city of Mukden in the Chinese province of Manchuria. In response to the attack, the Japanese army stationed in Korea at the time moved into Manchuria and annexed the territory from China. This turn of events did concern the international community, but no decisive action was taken during the rest of 1931. The only nation to create any sort of policy regarding the Japanese actions in Manchura was the United States, which created the Stimson Doctrine in December 1931. The Stimson Doctrine stated that the United States would not recognize new states that were created by aggressive actions, in many ways predicting what would happen in 1932. In early 1932, a new nation called Manchukuo was established in the region with Japan supporting its independence from China. The international community was shocked by these developments and the League of Nations established the Lytton Commission to investigate the Mukden incident and the validity of the new Manchurian State. The League of Nations, however, was slow in its response to the issue of recognizing Manchukuo as an independent nation with it taking over a year for the League to declare that it would not recognize the new state. There were several additional factors that affected this slow response by the League. There was no international precedence for state recognition; many member nations, including Great Britian, were not committed to the policy of non-recognition; and the international community had to consider the Japnaese claim of Manchurian nationalism when deciding on the issue of recognizing Manchukuo. As a result, many nations expressed a wavering opinion regarding the recognition of Manchukuo despite the League policy of non-recognition. This lack of definitive action on the part of the international community allowed for the state of Manchukuo to exist for over a decade and for Japan to establish a strong position in China. | |
