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Question: What is the significance of the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905!?
I'm in a College class about Chinese/US relations!. I know what the Treaty of Portsmouth was, I just don't know the significance to either the US or China in the years following!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Well, the Treaty of Portsmouth is often pointed to as a pivotal event in the emergence of the U!.S!. as a world power!. Before President Roosevelt served as an intermediary and broker of peace in the Russo-Japanese war, the United States had been fairly isolationist in its foreign policy, and unless its own interests were threatened (the Spanish-American War being the first dabbling into a more externally-focused foreign policy), the U!.S!. didn't say much!. Brokering of peace had usually been done by European powers, and for the U!.S!. to do so was the turning of a new page in U!.S!. and world history!.

The impact of the treaty on China was tangential, in that the treaty formalized Japan's control over Korea and other portions of the mainland of Asia!. These Japanese acquisitions gave the Japanese both the footholds and the desire to expand their empire, which they did at China's expense in the 1930's!. With the Treaty of Portsmouth, in combination with the Anglo-Japanese treaty, Japan gained the signatures of a number of important players on the world stage that amounted to international acceptance of Japanese expansion onto mainland Asia!.Www@QuestionHome@Com