Morgenthau’s purchases of Chinese silver committed the United States government to the success of one of Nanjing’s most significant reforms and involved Washington more deeply than ever in East Asia. They underscored a shift in the American government’s view of China and Japan. For the first time since World War I, there was a realization that the policy of nonintervention in East Asia was leading to the demise of American influence and was facilitating Japan’s rise. The State Department’s program of avoiding confrontation with Japan was failing because Tokyo showed no limit to its desire to
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