imperialism


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=//American Imperialism in Relation to the Open Door Policy//=

The United States took Far Eastern matters more seriously after the Spanish-American War, when they came into possession of the Philippines. In the fall of 1898, President McKinley stated his desire for the creation of an "open door" that would allow all trading nations access to the Chinese market. The following year, Secretary of State John Hay sought a formal endorsement of the concept by circulating diplomatic notes among the major powers, enabling the secretary to be credited with authoring the Open Door policy. This penetration of the Chinese market was a form of imperialism, and caused the Boxer Rebellion, to which European and United States powers answered with military force. The Open Door Policy has imperialism written all over it--it used spheres of influence to control another nation's economy.

Analysis
The majority of other foreign countries were increasing their spheres of influence in China while the United States was not. This caused the United States to introduce the Open Door Policy, which in simple terms was a way of all of the foreign countries sharing rights to China so no one gets left behind. With everybody getting their "fair share" of imperialism of China, all the foreigners thought that this was a great idea that made everybody happy. This, however, was a terrible failure that resulted in a bloody rebellion, due to poor diplomatic relationships. The empress of China turned rebels toward the foreign powers and created a war between the sovereign and subordinate nations. If the United States and other countries had been more cooperative with China, then this would have gone much more smoothly. In fact, if America had been much more sensitive and thoughtful to what China wanted, there probably would not have even been a revolt. It is important for the United States to remember the days of the Open Door Policy, in order for this not to repeat itself. American lives were lost because of poor diplomatic relationships. This event can be related to Iraq, but on a much smaller scale. In both cases, Americans were being killed because of misunderstandings. In China, the United States thought that China was happy about them being imperialized and Americanized, when in fact they just wanted to be left alone, to a degree. In Iraq, America did not communicate with Iraq well enough, or with other nations of the United Nations, causing the war to initiate. We believe that both of these bloody occurrences could have been prevented if the proper protocols had been taken. The United States should have referred to the Open Door Policy to remind themselves that imperialism involves two countries, both of which need to be improving in different aspects of their statehood. The Open Door Policy was a mistake made years ago, and should be used as a reminder to help us now and in the future.