Acceptance of European Modern International Law in East Asia and a Conflict with the Traditional Idea of China as Central Empire

我们可以说，日本在1853年至1945年的整个时期是西方传统“帝国主义”国际法的忠实和快速的学生，尽管它在1905年至1931年的伪平等时代开始对文明国家之间的主权平等产生强烈的怀疑。这确实是对西方国际法的“适当”接受。日本继续通过正确使用国际法的各种理论来扩大自己的领土：割让、占领无主地、征服、保护国和吞并、租赁领土、军事占领等。领土扩张的目标始终是亚洲地区，尤其是韩国和中国。亚洲学者批评日本是“西方帝国主义的真正帮凶”。与日本的明显成功形成鲜明对比的是，现代中国和韩国在接受现代国际法方面的失败是明确的。本文对这一领域的几个重要问题进行了深入的研究：与传统“平衡”观念相比的权力平衡，与韩国“独立”观念相比的独立和主权，1899年中朝通商条约等。

We can say that Japan was a faithful and quick pupil of Western traditional "imperialistic" international law for a whole period of 1853-1945,although she began to entertain a strong suspicion about sovereign equality among civilized nations in the age of pseudo-equality, from 1905 to 1931. It was really a "proper" reception of Western international law. Japan continued to enlarge her territory by correctly using various theories of that international law : cession, occupation of terra nullius, conquest, protected state and annexation, leased territory, military occupation etc. The target of a territory enlargement was always the Asian region, especially Korea and China. It is criticized by Asian scholars that Japan was "a real accomplice of Western imperialism". In marked contrast to Japan's distinct success, the failure of the reception of modern international law in modern China and Korea is unequivocal. Several important issues in this field were thoroughly examined : balance of power in comparison with the traditional idea of "balance", independence and sovereignty in contrast to the Korean idea of "independence" (Jishu), the 1899 commerce treaty between China and Korea etc.