American Involvement in the Pacific: Debate

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first warning to the Japanese.

The affirmative today has chosen to conveniently left out evidence incident at Nanking involving the USS Panay. USS Panay is a clear example of American appeasement and unwillingness to start conflict. It was an attack where Japanese aircraft bombed and eventually sunk an American gunboat USS Panay. It had enormous repercussions and many feared that it would bring America into the war.

Many modern historians speculate that the Japanese army attempted to force the US into an active conflict so that they could once and for all drive the American presence out of China. Despite all this however, the US recognised and accepted Japan’s formal apology and understood it as an "unintentional" incident. This was another incident where the US chose not to pursue further conflict even though they could. The second warning to the Japanese.

Japan continued to expand through South-east Asia and eventually reaching the Dutch East Indies. It occupied the Cam Ranh naval base which posed a serious threat to British occupied Singapore and only 800 miles away from American controlled Philippines. America had no choice but to respond with an oil embargo.

The West attempted to use sanctions and embargos as a last ditch attempt to ease Japanese aggression. The third and perhaps, final warning to the Japanese.

And now ladies and gentlemen, this is when everything snapped. The point of no return.

On the notorious morning of December 7th 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour taking 2,403 American lives. It was a serious blow to the American fleet stationed in the Pacific and a sucker punch that left America unguarded. Having no choice, they were forced into conflict with the Japanese.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in conclusion, today we’ve shown you how an isolationist America, whom of which took extreme measures not to partake in any foreign conflict, was continually targeted by an extremely expansionist and militaristic Japan. Irrespective of American actions, patterns of Japanese aggression were long evident through examples such as the Russo-Japanese and Sino-Japanese wars.

Diplomatic negotiations to prevent conflict, continued long through the 1940s and sanctions were used as a last response to deter Japanese aggression. Evidently, it becomes clear that America in fact did not provoke Japan into conflict, but was rather victim of an expanding and highly militaristic Japanese regime. For these reasons, it becomes clear that the US did not in any way provoke the Japanese to war in the Pacific.