The Washington conference adopted a Nine-Power Treaty and other agreements of which the general purport was that the Powers would respect the territorial integrity of. China and respect the principle of equal. trade opportunity, Japan's occupation of Manchuria, and subsequently of large regions in China proper was considered. here to have violated these basic principles.
The United States government, Congress, and public in 1928 hailed the Kellogg-Briand pact "outlawing war" as an important -accompli: h-ment in world affairs. likely to offset the relative ineffectiveness of the League of Nations covenant as an effective instrumentality for peace. Japan's conquest and occupation of Manchuria in 1932 caused a dull disillusionment regarding the efficacy of the pact, and Japan bore the onus of this feeling.
The United States point of view crystallized in the famous note from the Secretary Stimson, to China and Japan on of State; Henry L.
January 7, 1932. In this the United States government warned those countries "that it cannot admit the legality of any situation de factor nor does it intend to recognize any treaty or agreement between those governments. or agents thereof, which may impair the treaty rights of the United States or its citizens in China including these which relate to the sovereignty, the independence, or the territorial and administrative integrity of the Republic of China or to the international policy relative to China, commonly known as the open-door policy; and that it does not intend to recognize any situation, treaty, or agreement which may be brought about by means contrary to the covenants and obligations of the Pact of Paris of August 27, 1928, to which treaty both China and Japan, as well as the United States, are parties."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.