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The Open Door Policy was plainly a statement of U.S. foreign policy toward China. Issued by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay (1899), the statement reaffirmed the principle that all countries should have equal access to any Chinese port open to trade. The U.S. sent notes to Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia explaining the policy to prevent them from establishing separate spheres of influence in China. Their replies were evasive, but the U.S. considered them acceptances of the policy. Japan's violation of the policy in 1937 led the U.S. to impose an oil embargo. The policy was discontinued with the communist takeover of China in 1949.



The policy was issued when China was in political and economic disarray as the end of the 19th century approached. The giant was not recognized as a sovereign nation by the major powers, who were busy elbowing one another for trading privileges and plotting how the country could be partitioned. The imperial nations sought spheres of influence and claimed extraterritorial rights in China.

Hay’s proposal called for the establishment of equal trading rights to all nations in all parts of China and for recognition of Chinese territorial integrity (meaning that the country should not be carved up). The impact of such a policy would be to put all of the imperial nations on an equal footing and minimize the power of those nations with existing spheres of influence.