The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931

by Adam Tooze

The British Embassy informed London that the majority of the cabinet and 80 per cent of China’s newspaper-reading public were in favour. From the nationalist South, the Republican newspaper Chung-Yuan Pao declaimed: ‘This is the time for action. We must range ourselves on the side of justice, humanity and of international law . . .’28 But within days of the Chinese break with Germany, these hopes were to suffer a shattering disappointment. Far from embracing the Chinese Republic in its desire to enter the war, President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing drafted a polite, but discouraging response: ‘The American government highly appreciates disposition of China but does not wish to lead it into danger. It regrets practical inability to give any present assurances . . . The Chinese government, therefore would do well to consult its representatives in the Allied countries. Ignorance of Japan’s attitude also suggests caution.’