Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 226

Lin Xinyi shook his head and said, "I am not dissatisfied, but stating a fact. All the provisions of the Constitution are very good. Except for the lack of protection for the freedom of speech of the people, it is almost perfect. Therefore, the people can only hope that Your Excellency can supervise the Constitution to prevent it from being violated by power, because the people have no right to comment on the Constitution."

The Five Articles Oath, on the other hand, while broad in scope and lacking specific provisions, grants the people freedom of speech and the freedom to defend the nation. Therefore, the navy can only recite the Five Articles Oath, not the Constitution, because the Constitution does not require memorization by the navy, which has no right to interpret it. To prevent unconstitutionality, the navy naturally can only recite the Five Articles Oath…

Chapter 723

Author: Fuchun Mountain Residence Number: 5042 Comments: 0 Update Date: 2023-09-01 12:30:16

The reason Hayashi Shin-yi spoke so frankly about his views on the Meiji Constitution was because he knew that Ito Hirobumi wanted to know his true thoughts, not just hear some nice things. Simply put, Ito Hirobumi had previously only valued Hayashi's analytical abilities in international relations, using him like a secondhand encyclopedia; but now he was focusing on Hayashi as a person, wanting to understand his true political leanings.

As a former leader who once held a commanding position in India, Lin Xinyi knew very well that what a leader hated most about his subordinates was not their ideological errors, but rather the provision of false intelligence to their superiors. This is because a leader's decisions are based on judgments made from intelligence. If the intelligence itself is false, then the judgment will inevitably deviate from reality. And the damage caused to the organization by wrong decisions is far greater than the damage caused by some members whose ideas are inconsistent with the organization.

Therefore, the idea that it is better to make political mistakes than organizational mistakes is actually a form of deception by party members. This behavior undermines the very foundation of the organization, especially for organizations like the vanguard. Without proper theoretical guidance, party members can quickly become corrupted into bureaucrats.

For a leader, ideological problems can be salvaged through education and punishment. However, concealing one's ideological problems and relying on guessing the leader's mindset to approach one's work is actually isolating the leader from the grassroots. This is because those who do not make mistakes in the organization are almost always only responsible to their superiors and do not care about the problems that arise at the grassroots level. Although they are flawless in their work, they undermine the organization's ideals in practice and turn the organization into a bureaucracy of power struggles and personal dependence.

Although Ito Hirobumi was not a Lenin-style leader, he was still an outstanding politician who rose from the grassroots to become a national leader. So when Ito took notice of him again, Lin Xinyi knew that he could no longer hide his true thoughts, otherwise it would be tantamount to treating the other party as a fool. Facing Ito Hirobumi, who had emerged from the bloodshed, such an attitude was undoubtedly tantamount to betrayal.

Contemporary Japan is still essentially a system of elder statesmen politics. Although party politics is indeed on the rise, this rise is precisely a consequence of Ito Hirobumi abandoning elder statesmen politics. This is the source of the dissatisfaction of Yamagata Aritomo and others with Ito Hirobumi. It was Ito Hirobumi's formation of a party that made Seiyukai a party qualified to form a cabinet. Before that, political parties could only criticize the government in the media and had a long way to go before gaining power.

It can be said that Ito Hirobumi's formation of a political party greatly accelerated the pace of party politics, making the public realize that the era of party-led government formation had arrived. Hayashi Shin-yi naturally did not want a direct conflict with Ito Hirobumi. If Ito Hirobumi were to switch his support to Yamagata Aritomo, even if the navy could protect him, he would likely be exiled overseas and unable to participate in Japanese political affairs for a long time.

Therefore, when faced with Ito Hirobumi's question, Hayashi Nobuyoshi honestly gave his opinion. Of course, Ito Hirobumi was not satisfied with Hayashi Nobuyoshi's answer. After all, the Meiji Constitution was his masterpiece, and questioning the Meiji Constitution was no different from questioning him personally. Even his former comrades, such as Ōkuma, were driven out of the court by Ito Hirobumi in conjunction with other forces because they hindered his drafting of the constitution.

The only difference is that Ito Hirobumi is now 69 years old, not 50 when the constitution was drafted. The young and vigorous Ito Hirobumi could fearlessly suppress dissenting voices with strong political tactics to uphold his political ideals. But today's Ito Hirobumi is no longer that strong. Even if he still has such convictions, his followers would find it difficult to follow him wholeheartedly, because they cannot entrust their lives to an old man who may die at any time.

This was not just Ito Hirobumi's unfounded suspicion of his followers, but rather the truth revealed by the party formation incident. Ito's refusal to join the Seiyukai he founded was, in effect, a rejection of his political vision of separating the Ito faction from the Choshu faction and making it a separate political party. Furthermore, Yamagata's subsequent collaboration with his closest allies and subordinates to force him to resign as party leader further indicated that his followers did not believe he had enough time to complete the partyization of the Ito faction, and therefore preferred to remain within the Choshu faction.

Ito Hirobumi ultimately made a compromise that would have been almost impossible in the past few decades. Without his unwavering conviction, he could not have risen from a foot soldier to the position of a founding father of the Meiji Restoration. However, Ito Hirobumi now had to make too many political compromises to maintain political balance, which was indeed a sign of his declining power.

Therefore, when Hayashi Shin-yi honestly expressed his views on the Meiji Constitution, he didn't feel angry at all. This was not the first time Hayashi Shin-yi had questioned the existence of the constitution. In fact, when Ōkuma and others opposed the constitution, it was because the constitution overemphasized the power of the emperor and ignored the rights of the people, which obviously violated the original political ideals of the anti-shogunate coalition.

Although the anti-shogunate coalition fought under the banner of "Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians," its high-ranking members actually knew that the Emperor did not support the overthrow of the shogunate; he merely demanded that the shogunate expel the barbarians. In fact, even after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, the Emperor was still trying to preserve the shogunate's territory and discussing the possibility of a union between the court and the military. The Emperor's stance received support from daimyo such as the Shimazu, which triggered the anti-shogunate coalition's rebellion against these enlightened daimyo, ultimately forcibly passing the resolution to march on Edo.

Therefore, the first ten years of the Meiji Restoration were actually a decade of strong suppression of the Emperor and the daimyo. During these ten years, the reformers were most wary of the Emperor and the daimyo's interference in politics. However, due to the infighting between the founding members and the anti-foreign faction, the samurai rebellion eventually broke out. In order to unify the national consensus, Ito and Yamagata had no choice but to establish the idea of ​​an imperial state.

Therefore, Ito Hirobumi was not surprised by Hayashi Shin-yi's views on the constitution, nor was he as sensitive as he was at the age of fifty. In view of the implementation of the constitution over the past ten years, the constitution had indeed led to the dominance of the feudal lords, which in turn aroused widespread dissatisfaction among the people. The reason why Ito Hirobumi wanted to form a party was that he believed that the feudal lords were completely turning against the people. If they were not curbed, the feudal lords would become a second shogunate.

Moreover, Lin Xinyi did not proactively express his dissatisfaction with the constitution; rather, he stated his views under pressure. In this respect, he could only be relieved that the other party was at least willing to tell him the truth. As for Lin Xinyi's views on the constitution, they were not so important. After all, what he was most worried about was that Lin Xinyi would use a false appearance to deceive him. Given the political ability the other party had demonstrated, such a false appearance could only mean one thing: that Lin Xinyi regarded the Ito faction as political opponents. In that case, he could not leave such an unstable factor to future generations.

Realizing that Lin Xinyi's differences with him stemmed solely from differing political ideologies, Ito Hirobumi felt considerably more at ease. If that was all, he could still continue the discussion. Of course, he still attempted to defend his constitution, arguing, "If a nation lacks a unified and recognized spiritual symbol, then the political chaos of the early Meiji era will occur. The purpose of the constitution is to unify the thoughts of the people spiritually, thereby preventing the outbreak of civil wars like the Satsuma Rebellion."

Indeed, the constitution was drafted in a rush, so it focused less on the rights of the people and more on the powers of the Emperor. However, while the constitution emphasizes that sovereignty resides in the Emperor, it does not mean that the Emperor's will is the will of the state. The Emperor is actually just a symbol of the state apparatus and does not actually exercise his will…

"So the idea that the Imperial Household Agency originated from Ito Hirobumi's proposal?" Lin Xinyi thought to himself. However, he still listened attentively to Ito Hirobumi's ideas on the constitution, which gave him a deeper understanding of the Meiji Constitution. Of course, this understanding did not deviate from his original views on the constitution.

After Ito Hirobumi finished speaking, Hayashi Shinji remained silent for a few moments before simply saying, "But the Emperor is born, while the elders are not."

Although Hayashi Shin-yoshi only said this one sentence, Ito Hirobumi fell into a long silence because he knew the meaning behind Hayashi Shin-yoshi's words: that while he was alive, the political principle of making the Emperor's government a reality could be realized, but if he were gone, who could suppress the sovereignty theory that supports the Emperor's personal rule?

Ultimately, Yamagata Aritomo, in order to secure the military's independence, overemphasized the Emperor's command over the army, thus effectively instilling in the people the idea that national sovereignty resided with the Emperor, not the people. Therefore, the army could disobey the orders of the government and parliament, since the latter two were merely representatives of the people and could not command the army above the Emperor.

The reason Emperor Meiji cannot interfere in politics now is because he still acknowledges the imperial organ theory, and the elder statesmen are united in their stance on the emperor's direct rule. This leaves no room for the theory of imperial sovereignty to take hold. But once the elder statesmen are gone and a new emperor ascends the throne, who will be able to continue suppressing the theory of imperial sovereignty?

On this issue, Ito Hirobumi was actually feeling guilty. After thinking for a long time, he vaguely said, "The current Imperial Household Law was formulated to prevent the Emperor from interfering in politics, and it may not be unable to uphold the status of the Constitution."

Lin Xinyi, however, did not back down, saying, "I still hold this view: the Emperor is born, but the elders are not. Apart from the elders, who can supervise the implementation of the Imperial Household Law? Without a supervisor who can be held accountable, the legal provisions are just empty words."

Ito Hirobumi was immediately troubled. This was the biggest difference between Lin Xinyi and his group of top law students. Those students believed that laws were sacred as soon as they were made, while Lin Xinyi was more concerned about the implementation of laws. If the enforcement of laws could not be ensured, then the laws had no sacredness.

Although Hirobumi Ito insisted on establishing systems for everything, his underlying belief was actually the same as Nobuyoshi Hayashi's: laws that cannot be enforced have no sanctity, because legal provisions do not become power to punish violators; legal provisions only become power in the hands of law enforcers. Without law enforcers, there is no law; if the power of those subject to enforcement exceeds the power of the law enforcers, then the law becomes invalid.

Therefore, Hayashi Nobuyoshi's answer actually pinpointed the biggest flaw in the Meiji Constitution and the Imperial Household Law: no one except the elders could guarantee that these two laws could regulate the Emperor's behavior. If the Emperor is outside the constitutional powers, then the constitution cannot be called a constitution, because there are no exceptions to a constitution; therefore, the constitution is the foundation of national consensus.

When an exception appears in the constitution, it means that the national consensus has failed. This is the reason why Ōkuma and others opposed the theory of emperor sovereignty. The Meiji Constitution, based on the theory of emperor sovereignty, made the emperor an exception to the constitution. The emperor supervised everyone but was not supervised himself, which meant that the emperor was above the constitution, and the constitution lost its original purpose.

Ito Hirobumi's advocacy of the Emperor as a state organ was actually an excuse to deflect criticisms from Ōkuma and others. However, the spirit of the Meiji Constitution was the concept of Emperor sovereignty, and nowhere did it emphasize that the Emperor was a state organ. In fact, Hayashi Nobuyoshi was being quite polite; it wasn't that the elders upheld the Emperor as a state organ, but rather that he was the only one who truly upheld it. Other elders, when faced with political issues, always couldn't resist pushing the Emperor forward to counter public criticism, which effectively constituted an endorsement of Emperor sovereignty.

However, Ito Hirobumi had no right to criticize the other elder statesmen, because it was he who first used the Emperor's name to force the Diet to pass the national budget. Had he not set this flawed precedent, the other elder statesmen might not have dared to break the rules. Although Ito Hirobumi believed he was merely acting expediently, breaking the rules to avoid defeat in the war against the Qing Dynasty due to funding issues, the other elder statesmen felt they were also acting expediently, all working for the country. Why should only Ito be allowed to use this method, while they couldn't?

It was precisely because the elders constantly trampled on the actual facts of the imperial organ theory that the theory of imperial sovereignty gained a group of supporters in the upper and middle classes of the country. Their purpose was actually very simple: to use the name of the emperor's personal rule to overthrow the feudal clique politics. Even Ōkuma, a liberal who had previously emphasized popular sovereignty, now wanted to launch an attack on the Chōsatsu regime under the guise of the theory of imperial sovereignty.

No matter how much Hirobumi Ito emphasized the rationality of the Constitution and the Imperial Household Law, the entire political edifice of the empire began to collapse under Hayashi Nobuyoshi's question. Because the foundation was flawed, no matter how perfect the superstructure was, it still could not support the entire building.

After thinking for a long time, Ito Hirobumi could only say, "The Crown Prince is gentle and courteous, and should not be easily instigated to violate the Code of Conduct."

Crown Prince Yoshihito, who would later become Emperor Taisho, was someone whose character Lin Xinyi did not know, but he did know what kind of figure the future Emperor Taisho would be: an emperor suffering from a brain disease who had to let Showa oversee the country ahead of schedule. Indeed, this Emperor Taisho would not violate the Imperial Household Law, but he was also unable to uphold the authority of the constitution. The Imperial Household Agency was overthrown during the Taisho era.

Because the theory of the Emperor's authority was overthrown, the Showa era became an era of complete right-wing dominance. Any discourse on freedom and democracy was interpreted as an attack on the imperial system, ultimately transforming Japan into a fascist state. Itō Hirobumi, as a politician, was truly delusional to place the authority of the constitution on Emperor Taisho.

Even if Ito Hirobumi couldn't foresee the mental breakdown that would later result in Emperor Taisho's brain disease, as a reformist politician, it would have been quite unwise for him to place his political hopes on one person, and it would have also violated Ito Hirobumi's political ideals of establishing an institutionalized state system since he entered politics.

At this moment, Lin Xinyi finally realized Ito Hirobumi's aging. Seven or eight years ago, when he first met Ito Hirobumi, the latter would not have placed his hopes on anyone else. He hesitated for a moment before finally speaking: "The Navy certainly supports the Crown Prince. What the Navy opposes is only those who attempt to seize power under the Emperor's banner."

At this point in the conversation, it had completely deviated from Ito Hirobumi's original intention in summoning Hayashi Nobuyoshi. He had hoped that Hayashi Nobuyoshi would become a pillar of the Ito faction to ensure that the Meiji Constitution would not be undermined by other political forces after his death. However, the current result was that Hayashi Nobuyoshi expressed his loyalty to the Crown Prince.

At this point, it would be somewhat inappropriate for Ito Hirobumi to try to steer the conversation back to its original course. He himself realized a problem: could the Ito faction, led by Ito, withstand the impact of other political forces on the "Emperor's Authority" argument? Although the "Emperor's Sovereignty" and "Emperor's Authority" arguments were merely a struggle for the right to interpret the constitution, this actually became the basis for the Ito faction's survival. On this issue, Hayashi Nobuyoshi could not be of any help because he was a soldier and should not get involved in the debate over constitutional interpretation; otherwise, it would become military politics.

From this perspective, Hayashi Nobuyoshi's pledge of loyalty to the Crown Prince became the optimal choice. This avoided military interference in politics and laid the foundation for the Ito faction to gain naval support. This support was achieved through loyalty to the Crown Prince, thus preventing unconstitutional military intervention. Even Ito Hirobumi couldn't find a better solution.

This conversation shifted Ito Hirobumi's focus from defending the Constitution to defending the right to interpret it. This eliminated the conflict between his political stance and that of the Navy, represented by Hayashi Nobuyoshi. Previously, Ito had worried that the Navy's political stance was too liberal and democratic, posing a threat to the Emperor system, which was why he demanded Hayashi clarify his position. However, after the conversation, Ito realized that if the right to interpret the Constitution were lost, the Navy would become a backup plan for correcting mistakes, and the Navy's liberal and democratic tendencies would no longer be a problem.

Chapter 724

Author: Fuchun Mountain Residence Number: 4937 Comments: 0 Update Date: 2023-09-02 13:11:37

The reason why Ito Hirobumi was so easily persuaded by Hayashi Nobuyoshi was that he was well aware that there were two opposing views within the Ito faction he had established: the Emperor's personal rule and the Emperor's institutions. For example, Inoue Takeshi, whom he relied on as an important assistant in the constitution-making, would have been the second most powerful figure in the Ito faction if he had not died of illness. Inoue Takeshi was a supporter of the Emperor's personal rule.

Although Inoue Takeshi passed away, the Itō faction, which supported Inoue's ideas, did not disappear. For example, Kaneko Kentaro, a key figure in the Itō faction, was a follower of Inoue Takeshi, while two other key figures, Ito Miyoji and Suematsu Kensuke, had high expectations for the Privy Council's functions as envisioned by Inoue Takeshi.

Although Hirobumi Ito claimed that the Privy Council was his invention, he was actually referring to the Privy Council currently established in Japan. He emphasized this point to negate the functions of the House of Councillors envisioned by Takeshi Inoue. After completing the draft constitution, Inoue proposed to Hirobumi Ito that the temporary body for drafting the constitution should be made permanent, serving as an advisory body for the Emperor's personal rule. The role of this body would be to coordinate the conflicts between various ministries, or between the executive and judicial branches.

However, Ito Hirobumi positioned the newly established Privy Council as a liaison between the government and parliament to adjudicate budgetary and accounting disputes related to the constitution, while the Senate would remain the emperor's advisory body. This was to avoid conflict between the Privy Council and the Genro (senpai), which could prevent the draft constitution from being passed. Although the Senate was abolished several years later after the establishment of parliament, the Genro's power to govern remained unshaken.

Ito Hirobumi's proposed "Emperor's Organ" theory was essentially an attempt to reconcile the two approaches: direct imperial rule and the rule of elder statesmen (senpai). This aimed to avoid a direct conflict between the younger generation of bureaucrats who supported direct imperial rule and the elder statesmen. Hayashi Nobuyoshi's conversation with him today precisely addressed Ito Hirobumi's greatest concern: the internal divisions within the Ito faction regarding the two approaches. While those within the Ito faction who advocated direct imperial rule were few, those who supported the "Emperor's Organ" theory did not oppose expanding the Privy Council's power, thereby placing it above the government and parliament.

Miyoji Ito refused to join the Seiyukai, attempting to keep the Ito faction within the Choshu faction. He also joined forces with Yamagata to persuade Ito to leave the Seiyukai and take over as Privy Council Speaker from Yamagata. This was an attempt to redefine the Privy Council's position in national politics. After all, during the Yamagata and Kuroda cabinets, the Privy Council had been significantly weakened in recent cabinets to prevent the Ito faction from interfering in government affairs through the Privy Council.

After the Privy Council relinquished its authority, particularly the power to review the budget, to the Diet, it effectively had little real power beyond being a nominal advisory body to the Emperor.

As the first generation of Privy Council advisors aged and retired due to illness, the second generation, including elites with overseas study backgrounds such as Ito Miyoji and Kaneko Kentaro, actually made the Ito faction's power within the Privy Council even stronger. Therefore, there was a strong call within the Ito faction to rebuild the Privy Council's status, and the idea of ​​the Emperor ruling personally inevitably gained more acceptance in order to improve the Privy Council's status.

Hirobumi Itō attempted to shift the faction towards party politics, one of his aims being to rebuild consensus within the Itō faction, as party politics was not so urgent for the Emperor's direct rule. However, this move was opposed by the mainstream within the faction, and he ultimately had to relinquish his position as leader of the Seiyukai party.

Lin Xinyi's words today have truly exposed the biggest hidden crisis within the Ito faction. At this point, Ito Hirobumi's willingness to force Lin Xinyi to support the Ito faction is much less, because the Ito faction itself does not have a unified consensus. Allowing Lin Xinyi into the core of the Ito faction will inevitably trigger a series of intensified conflicts. Judging from Lin Xinyi's actions in the navy, he is not the kind of person who considers the big picture. Therefore, if the Ito faction cannot reach a consensus, it will be unable to suppress this rising star with great political ambitions.

What Ito Hirobumi needed was Hayashi Shin-yi, who could become an ally of the Ito faction, not an activist who would incite infighting within the Ito faction. Faced with Hayashi Shin-yi's stated position, he naturally had no choice but to back down.

However, although Ito Hirobumi made concessions on the matter of bringing Nobuyoshi Hayashi into the Ito faction, he did not stop testing the waters regarding political leanings. He then turned the conversation to the issue of the status of Korea.

Although Ito Hirobumi was preparing to step down as Governor-General of Korea, he had not yet made a decision on his successor. The decision was whether to hand over the position to the military or a civilian. Handing it over to the military would essentially mean choosing to annex Korea by force, while handing it over to a civilian would mean continuing to use civil administration to assimilate Korea.

However, during his time in North Korea, Ito Hirobumi realized that attempts to culturally assimilate the Koreans were actually difficult to succeed, because his efforts to win over the North Korean upper class had not resolved the rising anti-Japanese sentiment among the Korean people. Since he himself could not do it, he found it hard to imagine that any other civil servant could do it better than him.

However, handing Korea over to the army could potentially fuel its expansionist ambitions, which would be detrimental to the national policy of shifting the focus of national politics from war to domestic development. Ito Hirobumi agrees with the navy's current stance that Japan's external expansion has reached its limits, and that Japan now needs to focus on domestic development to strengthen its power, rather than continuing to seek war abroad.

Although the Portsmouth Peace Treaty was unsuccessful and was eventually replaced by the East Asia Tripartite Peace Agreement, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty actually represented the international community's tolerance limit for Japan's external expansion. The East Asia Tripartite Peace Agreement was merely an adjustment of the positions of the relevant parties on this basis.

Judging from the negotiations of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, the international community would not allow Japan to gain too much benefit on the East Asian mainland. The Korean Peninsula was, in effect, the bottom line set by the international community for Japan's continental expansion. Therefore, both the army's continental policy and the navy's maritime policy were actually detached from Japan's illusions of national strength.

The navy's clear-headed prioritization of strengthening national power naturally earned Ito Hirobumi's approval. In particular, the rise of Wuhan, a new political power in China, made Ito Hirobumi realize that the political landscape of East Asia was undergoing a new transformation. The future of East Asia would no longer be a conquest of the uncivilized East Asian peoples by the first awakened Japan, but a competition between China and Japan, which were also beginning to awaken.

Although Japan was decades ahead of China thanks to the Meiji Restoration, China's sheer size allowed it to integrate into the world order much more quickly after its awakening. It took Japan decades to gain European recognition as a member of the international community and achieve its status as a great power, while China, having only partially awakened, had already rebuilt the Asian order.

Regardless of how the international community views China, the current order in East Asia can no longer be determined entirely by the international community without China's involvement. In the past, the order in East Asia was determined by the diplomatic missions of various countries located in Beijing. As long as the diplomatic missions made a unanimous decision, it meant that the order in East Asia had been adjusted.

The outbreak of this war was essentially a challenge by Russia to the East Asian order, rather than an independent confrontation between Japan, China, and Russia. However, by the end of the war, the power to determine the new order in East Asia had shifted from the Beijing legation to the Chinese. Britain could not ignore China’s enormous influence over British India, Germany needed China to restrain the power of Britain and France in the East, and Russia had to recognize the legitimacy of the Far Eastern Republic supported by China. Japan could only defend its rule over Korea.

In less than a decade, China has transformed from a victim of the Boxer Rebellion into a force that shapes the East Asian order. This transformation is due to the immense power emanating from China's sheer size. Even though Wuhan could only consolidate a portion of China's strength, this power has already suppressed any rivals in East Asia.

Unless the various countries form another Boxer Rebellion, they might be able to force China to submit once again. After all, China is still a backward agricultural country and it is difficult to fight against the coalition of powerful nations with large industrial bases. However, given the current war and the Franco-German conflict that has broken out in Europe, it is no longer possible to form a new coalition against China.

Russia's new government is focusing its attention on domestic development and adopting a more conservative stance in foreign affairs. Britain and France are also concentrating their efforts in Europe to counter the challenge from Germany. The Germans are actively expanding the sales of German goods in China by leveraging their cooperation with Wuhan. Under these circumstances, it is no longer possible for European countries to unite and organize a large army to cross the ocean to sanction China.

In light of these changes in the international order, Japan also needs to readjust its diplomatic strategy towards China and reposition itself within the international order. Hirobumi Ito believes that the naval cabinets of Sukeyuki Ito and Gonnohyōe Yamamoto adopted a more prudent approach to Japan's position, at least far more realistic than the army's relentless expansion of military power and the zaibatsu's support for war.

The army's problem was that it overlooked Japan's national strength, which couldn't support its ambitions. The zaibatsu's problem was their excessive selfishness; as long as war brought them profit, they wouldn't consider the consequences of Japan's defeat. Therefore, regardless of the navy's political ambitions, Ito Hirobumi, after careful consideration, realized that he could only choose the navy as a political ally; everyone else lacked foresight.

Faced with Ito Hirobumi's consultation, Lin Xinyi finally felt much more at ease. At least Ito had given up on forcing him to choose between the Navy and the Ito faction, which was the most troublesome problem for him. However, he didn't take this kind of consultation on practical issues to heart, since he didn't need to take responsibility for it anyway.

Therefore, after a little thought, Lin Xinyi frankly stated: "Not only in Korea, but I believe that Taiwan and Mindanao should also gradually be transformed into civilian systems. Allowing the military to control overseas colonies is actually condoning the military to challenge the authority of the government. If an army has its own administrative, judicial, and taxation powers, then that army will inevitably oppose any constraints imposed on it by the government. Moreover, our army has an independent status stipulated by the constitution, which means that no one except the Emperor has the right to interfere. This means that the army is very likely to lose control and become an independent domain that no one can control."

Ito Hirobumi glanced at Hayashi Shinji with some surprise and said, "I thought you would emphasize the feudalization of the army and defend the navy."

Lin Xinyi frankly stated: "Overseas dominance is actually just a useless thing for the navy, because with the backward industries in overseas colonies, the navy cannot form an independent warlord at all. Even if a lot of funds can be extracted from overseas colonies, it still needs the coordination of the government to turn these funds into various equipment needed by the navy. Therefore, the more advanced the fleet, the deeper its dependence on the government."

The navy needs overseas bases, but the logistics of these bases must be provided by the state to minimize management costs and expand the navy's maritime patrol range. Therefore, the navy hopes that both domestic and overseas bases are under the leadership of the same government to provide better logistical support for its development.

However, the army is different. If the army could expand its forces independently without government intervention, its actions would become uncontrollable and unpredictable, ultimately holding the navy, government, and the public hostage. To prevent this worst-case scenario, the navy naturally wants to relinquish its control over overseas military operations.

After a moment's thought, Hirobumi Ito nodded slightly in agreement with Shin-Yi Lin's perspective from the Navy's standpoint. Indeed, the Navy's biggest concern right now is that the Army's unilateral actions are forcing a shift in national policy. After all, following the current political path, the Navy's political influence is gradually increasing, so the Navy naturally hopes that everyone will fight within the rules, rather than in a chaotic, table-overturning manner.

However, while understanding, Ito Hirobumi still expressed his concerns: "What you said does have some merit, but the situation in North Korea is different from that in Taiwan and Mindanao. North Korea is a country with its own government, army, and laws. Given the current situation in North Korea, it would be difficult to assimilate the North Koreans through cultural means..."

In Lin Xinyi's view, what Ito Hirobumi said was nonsense. You should know that Ito Hirobumi participated in the burning of the British embassy when he was young. He was a true nationalist. The main supporters of the Meiji Restoration government were almost all Japanese nationalists like Ito Hirobumi. After they gained control of Japanese politics, they hoped that the people Japan was conquering—the Koreans—had no national consciousness. Wasn't that just deceiving themselves?

Of course, he could only think this in his heart, and it was not appropriate to say it in such a situation. He thought about it for a long time before cautiously saying, "The first principle of civil service politics is that the government must gain the people's recognition. If the people believe that the government does not represent their interests, then the people will naturally regard the government as an opposing enemy and be skeptical of any policies issued by the government. Such a government can only make the people obey its orders by force rather than by law."

The biggest problem facing the Korean Residents' Office at present is not that Korea is a nation with an independent consciousness, but that the Residents' Office's rule is not recognized by the Korean people. This is why Korean resistance movements have erupted one after another, and the more force is used to suppress them, the more it fuels Korean national consciousness, ultimately leading to a confrontation between the Korean and Japanese peoples. At this stage, a legitimate relationship of rule between the two sides is naturally impossible.

Ito Hirobumi was not surprised by Hayashi Nobuyoshi's statement. In fact, Hayashi Nobuyoshi had expressed similar ideas in his letters to him. However, what he wanted to ask about today was a solution rather than an analysis of the Korean issue. Therefore, he continued to press Hayashi Nobuyoshi, asking, "In your opinion, what method should be used to get the Koreans to accept the rule of the Resident-General's Office?"

Lin Xinyi did not believe there was a feasible solution to this problem because the problem itself was flawed. However, after thinking for a long time, he finally spoke when faced with Ito Hirobumi's question: "It is necessary to gain the recognition of the Korean people, that is, to reach a consensus between the Koreans and the Resident-General's Office, and to clarify the rights and obligations of both parties on this consensus. Then, even if the Koreans are dissatisfied with Japanese rule, they will reduce unnecessary rebellions in order to maintain this consensus. In that case, the Resident-General's Office will at least have some time to prove that their rule over Korea is at least more advanced than that of the Joseon Dynasty."

Until a new Korean national regime emerges that gains the consensus of the Korean people, they will at least acknowledge the social order established by the Resident-General's Office. All Japan can do is delay the emergence of that new Korean national regime as much as possible and avoid a full-scale confrontation between the Japanese and Korean peoples. This is the only solution I can see.

After a long silence, Ito Hirobumi hesitated before asking, "What do you mean by this consensus?"

Lin Xinyi answered without hesitation: "We acknowledge that the Korean people have the right to independence, but before the Korean people gain the ability to be independent, Japan will take care of Korea on their behalf. This is also in line with the declaration in the Treaty of Shimonoseki that Japan attacked the Qing Dynasty in order to liberate the Korean people from Qing rule and lead them towards civilization."

Ito Hirobumi finally fell silent. Years earlier, he would have thought Hayashi Shinji's proposal was naive, because under the current international order, the strong did not need to consider the wishes of the weak. However, after serving as governor-general of Korea for some time, Ito believed that Japan was not an absolute power over Korea, and therefore could not completely annex Korea in the European manner.

Chapter 725

Author: Fuchun Mountain Residence Number: 5045 Comments: 0 Update Date: 2023-09-03 13:47:57

Ito Hirobumi felt that although Hayashi Shin-yi's proposed solution seemed too weak, it was indeed usable. At least it was more resource-efficient than the army's strategy of forceful conquest. The army's aggressive suppression strategy was actually copied from the European policy of colonizing backward regions. The British used this strategy of military conquest to eventually transform from a mere three islands into the British Empire that now occupies a quarter of the world's landmass.

As good students of the British, the Japanese naturally turned this theory of foreign colonization into the cornerstone of the establishment of the Great Japanese Empire. It was precisely because of the great conflict between British democracy and the Japanese imperial system that disagreements arose on how to emulate the British political system, which made it difficult for Japan's theory of foreign colonization to take shape for a long time.

According to British colonial theory, the British gained control of their colonies by importing advanced civilization. If Japan were to copy this model, the colonial system would have to learn from British overseas colonies and establish independent administrative and judicial systems. The colonial government would be accountable only to the Emperor, not to the Japanese government and parliament. This was something that Japan's political elite found difficult to accept.

However, following the traditional Japanese political approach of treating overseas colonies as new territories for expansion, the cost was far too high. The former elites of society, filled with resentment at their declining status, turned into anti-Japanese elements. For example, Taiwan remains under military rule, and rebellions by the Taiwanese people have never ceased.

This policy of military conquest effectively treated all local residents as second-class citizens. No matter how famous you were in the area, you were inferior to an ordinary Japanese person. Political inequality naturally led to economic oppression. Japanese people were protected by the military and the law in any industry they engaged in, while local people had no other way out except to make a living.

Thus, the Taiwanese people, who still longed for the Ming Dynasty under the Manchu rule, completely shifted to the ideology of Chinese unification after a few years of Japanese rule. They believed that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was also a legitimate dynasty of China, and therefore Taiwan should return to China. This ideological shift stemmed from the Taiwanese people's realization that they had lost their identity under Japanese rule. They could no longer have a sense of Taiwanese identity outside of Japan, and the Japanese did not consider them true Japanese, just like the Ryukyuans, merely outsiders who had been forced to change their names.

A simple fact is that Taiwanese people receive more legal protection in Japan than in Taiwan. This is because Japanese law primarily targets criminals, while Taiwanese law mainly targets dissidents with Taiwanese and Chinese identity. Therefore, Taiwanese people are naturally a target of the law in Taiwan, but in Japan, they unexpectedly gain the right to legal protection.

In contrast, Mindanao, which was administered by the navy, was the most harmonious overseas colony. This was because the navy did almost no administration, recognized the autonomy of local ethnic groups, and chose to cooperate with the Chinese in the economy. The navy's work in Mindanao mainly involved building roads, constructing ports, and mediating ethnic disputes. In addition, it cooperated with various autonomous villages to develop rubber and oil palm plantations. Under this relaxed management, Mindanao transformed from a turbulent region that strongly opposed outsiders into a region that could coexist peacefully with them.

It can be said that Mindanao was the overseas colony that Japan invested the least resources in, yet maintained relatively good order, second only to the Ryukyu Islands, which were annexed by Japan for hundreds of years. Although the Ryukyu Disposition was made by the Meiji Restoration government, the Satsuma Domain controlled Ryukyu at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, when the Meiji Restoration government issued the Ryukyu Disposition, there was almost no turmoil on the Ryukyu Islands, because the Ryukyuans had already accepted Japanese rule. The only thing that was dissatisfaction was felt by the Ryukyuan elites who served as the face of the nation, but at this point, they could no longer get the support of the lower classes to resist.

However, it is clear that the conquest of Ryukyu is difficult to replicate. In this rapidly changing era, the international order can shift dramatically even within a decade, let alone a hundred. Therefore, attempting to emulate British colonial expansion to strengthen Japan's power is a dead end. Thus, Hayashi Shin-yi's proposal to recognize the independent rights of the Korean people while only temporarily ruling Korea is the most likely solution for achieving stable rule over the country.

Ito Hirobumi's concern about this plan lay in its difficulty in gaining acceptance from the military and Japanese nationalists, as they clearly did not desire temporary rule. He expressed his worries, stating, "...If the goal is merely temporary rule, what will happen to the industries the Japanese have established in Korea? After Korean independence, will they allow us to retain these lands and minerals?"

Hayashi Shin-yi couldn't empathize with Ito Hirobumi's concerns. Of course, it was impossible to retain the land and fixed assets seized by force when leaving. But was Korea's independence a gift from Japan? It was because Japan could no longer continue to rule that it had no choice but to recognize Korea's independence. Therefore, it was only natural for the Koreans to reclaim their land and fixed assets.

Ito Hirobumi's concerns are as ridiculous as those Manchu loyalists who claim that the Republic of China inherited the legacy of the Qing Dynasty. It's as if the Qing Dynasty wasn't overthrown by a revolution, but rather that the Manchus themselves voluntarily handed over power. The fact that the defeated foreign conquerors were able to preserve their lives and private property is already the greatest mercy of the local people. Where is the legacy of the Qing Dynasty?

Unable to empathize with Ito, Lin Xinyi could only ask in return: "The resources that are desperately plundered from the people are ultimately used to enable a group of people to occupy Korean land and become landlords. So are they plundering the Korean people or oppressing their own people? Can farming and mining alone make up for the huge resources that the country has invested in occupying Korea?"

The political credibility Japan has lost on the Korean issue is immeasurable. This kind of colonialism based on military conquest is, in the present day, a foolish and unprofitable act that has completely tarnished Japan's international image, turning it into a member of the imperialist world. Japan's foreign relations have become solely driven by self-interest, devoid of morality.

Hearing Hayashi Nobuyoshi say this, Ito Hirobumi couldn't help but ask him with some curiosity, "Didn't you once say that there is no morality between nations, only eternal interests?"

Lin Xinyi responded quickly: "At that time, I was analyzing British diplomacy from the British perspective, which does not mean that I agree with this diplomatic position. For the world's leading power, the British Empire, it is indeed possible to only talk about interests and not morality. However, the British Empire also abides by the treaty system established by the Treaty of Westphalia, and this system is essentially the source of the British Empire's morality."

The reason why countries are able to maintain basic international order under the treaty system is because the British have bound themselves to this system, rather than being above it. Therefore, respecting the treaty system is the greatest moral principle of the British Empire in diplomacy. At least all countries know that the British can indeed abide by the treaties they have signed, and even if they tear up these treaties later, they will find an excuse rather than abandoning them without any reason.

It is precisely because the British Empire has largely adhered to the treaties it signed that the current international order is built on a treaty system, rather than on chaotic and disorderly warfare. From this perspective, although British diplomacy may not prioritize morality, its adherence to the treaty system is, in effect, the greatest moral imperative, and this moral commitment has ensured the British Empire's leadership in the international order.

As the weakest of the great powers, Japan is neither able to confront the international order by force nor respect the treaties it has signed. Sooner or later, Japan will become another Russia in the eyes of other countries, a troublemaker attempting to disrupt the international order by force. Therefore, in the long run, a country's international image is in its greatest interest.

However, in today's Japanese diplomacy, I see no one concerned about Japan's international image; they are only focused on short-term gains, as if they don't care if Japan becomes an international enemy in the future, as long as they can enjoy the benefits. What's even more ridiculous is that these short-term gains haven't even benefited the entire nation, but only a select few.

This is the root of my opposition to a plan of forced conquest of North Korea, because the losses outweigh the gains…”

At this point in their conversation, Ito Hirobumi finally understood Hayashi Nobuyoshi's basic stance on foreign policy. Hayashi Nobuyoshi's ideas were completely different from those of the early pioneers of opening up the country, and he did not agree with the theory of East Asian rise based on the transformation of Chinese and barbarians. What Hayashi Nobuyoshi wanted was a replication of the European treaty system in East Asia, that is, to establish Asianism on the basis of recognizing the equality of all Asian nations, in order to counter Eurocentrism.

This idea is indeed more realistic than the East Asian unification theory proposed by these early pro-openness advocates or those who held a Sinocentric view. The early pro-openness theory actually recognized Europe as the birthplace of world civilization, and other regions were merely passive recipients of civilization. Therefore, to become a member of the civilized world, Japan needed to "leave Asia and join Europe," which required a thorough Europeanization of Japanese culture and politics.

This trend of wholesale Westernization reached its peak during the Rokumeikan era, but it aroused widespread dissatisfaction among the people with the opening-up faction and thus shook the people's support for the imperial system. A large number of liberal democrats emerged, and the drafting of a constitution and the convening of a parliament became the most powerful weapons of the civil rights advocates, because these were the most basic elements of foreign politics.

To prevent the collapse of the imperial system, Ito Hirobumi and other pro-nationalist figures were forced to shift their support to the pro-nationalist faction, thus ousting radical advocates of "leaving Asia and joining Europe" from the court. Nationalism then gained popularity, leading to the emergence of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere movement, based on a distorted view of Sinology. However, anyone with common sense knows that, aside from the Japanese, there were virtually no Koreans or Chinese who supported the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Although a small number of Chinese intellectuals support Greater East Asia Theory, they prefer an alliance of China, Japan, and Korea rather than a complete unification of the three countries. This is because the Chinese cannot accept the Qing emperor being subordinate to the Japanese emperor. After the abdication of the Qing dynasty, Chinese Greater East Asia theorists who supported a republic further advocated for China to be the main body of Greater East Asia, rather than Japan. This rendered Japan's Greater East Asia unification theory completely hopeless, as Japan's political elite clearly could not accept being merged by China.