Facing what it believed to be a threat on an oceanic scale from the United States, the Terauchi government was insistent that Japan must go beyond a regional policy of spheres of interest. It was not enough for Japan to carve out its place in Manchuria, alongside British emplacements in Central China and France in the South, let alone to engage in the kind of destructive divide and rule tactics pursued by Tanaka.22 Instead, to confront the threat from across the Pacific, Tokyo must intensify its effort to place all of China under Japanese influence, thereby excluding the Western Powers
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