The Japanese intended to seize control of key railroads and airfields, forestall the possibility of American bombing raids on the home islands, establish land links to their bases in French Indochina, and perhaps even weaken Chiang’s government badly enough to knock China out of the war. With China neutralized, the Japanese could potentially apportion more resources to fight the Americans in the Pacific and perhaps force them to negotiate a settlement based on Japanese dominance in Asia and a new geopolitical balance of power.
