Open Door Policy
Introduction
The open door policy is basically a statement which contains principles which were initiated by the US, for the safety of equal civil liberties among the countries which were trading with China. On the other hand, the Boxer Rebellion was a movement in the year 1900, which supported peasant’s uprising, which aimed at driving all foreigners out of China. Boxers, was a word which was consequently used by the Chinese when referring to foreigners. The Boxers group participated in boxing rituals, which they believed made them stronger, hence preventing them from being vulnerable.
John Hay was US secretary of state, and he was the first person to articulate the concept of Open Door in China, in the 1899-1900 period (Schultz, 2010). The Open Door Notes consequently aimed at securing international agreement to the United States guiding principle which promoted equal chance for international trade and commerce in China. The notes also advocated for the respect to China’s executive and regional integrity. The American and British policies on China had been in the past operated using the same set of rules. This was however changed after Hay decided to record them in writing, making the Open Door to become the US formal policy in the Far East, during the first half of 20th century (Burt & Añorve, 2013).
The Open Door Notes were influenced by British and American experts living in China, who believed that their commercial welfares in China would be best safeguarded by a formal agreement. This was one of the possible ways of making sure the trade between the two countries in China remained peaceful without any problems at all (Burt & Añorve, 2013). Hay therefore without any hesitation, sent the notes to the great powers which were France, China, Germany, Russia, Great Britain and Japan, the notes contained information concerning the trade policies. The great nations, had special interests in China, since it had a very wide market for manufactured goods, moreover, it also provided cheap labor (Schultz, 2010). The provision of cheap labor consequently made most countries to see the need of trading in China, hence making the country attract most countries.
This is consequently an example of US empirical desire, in the sense that the US was looking for a means of coming up with a policy which would safeguard its interest in China (Schultz, 2010). In addition, this policy would allow the US to be able to dominate in China, thus being able to benefit fully from the country. The US, was not in any way trying protect the sovereignty of China, but it was looking forward to exploring its interests without being affected in any way by the Chinese government. On the other hand, foreign countries were mostly attracted to Asian countries, since they were among the civilized nations of the world, which had a lot of unexplored resource, they also provided cheap labor, thus making them to attract foreign countries (Burt & Añorve, 2013).
Conclusion
The open door policy was mainly aimed at fulfilling the interests of the US in China. In addition, the US was able to execute different tasks in the country, which were not allowed by the policy. In other words, the policy was a form of trap, which made it easy for the US to lure China into signing the agreement, hence rendering the country toothless, since the US could be able to conduct trade in the country without being limited by Chinese authorities.
Reference
Burt, S., & Añorve, D. (2013). Global Perspectives on US Foreign Policy: From the Outside In. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schultz, K. M. (2010). Hist. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
