The "Open Door" Policy.

In 1899, with the European powers effectively carving up a weak China into "spheres of influence" under their financial control and moving on a possible collision course over trade in that Asian nation, Secretary of State John Hay appealed to them to cooperate with each other and the United States. Hay circulated what became known as the "Open Door" notes to Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, and Japan, asking them not to erect prohibitive trade barriers and to leave an "open door" for other countries, especially the United States, to trade within their Chinese spheres of influence on an equal basis. They reluctantly agreed. For the time being China maintained the appearance of national integrity, but in reality its sovereignty was a hollow shell. In June 1900 young Chinese nationalists, angry and resentful that their government had succumbed to...