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Kato Takaaki and the Russo-Japanese War

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Kato Takaaki and the Russo-Japanese War 3 Kato Takaaki and the Russo-Japanese War NARAOKA SOCHI n recent years great strides have been made on research into the out- Ibreak of the Russo-Japanese War. The latest studies have presented new interpretations, such as the view that advocates of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and a Russo-Japanese agreement were not necessarily as dia- metrically opposed to each other as once thought, but to a great extent were mutually entangled. Another example is the awareness that a wide perception gap existed between Russia and Japan, for while Japan per- ceived a greater threat from Russia than actually existed, the Russians did not pay so much attention to the possibility that Japan would embark on war.1 Also, in place of the traditional view that ‘the new generation of Prime Minister Katsura Taro and Foreign Minister Komura Jutaro over- came the elder statesmen (genro) Yamagata Aritomo, Ito Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru and led the way to war’, a new framework has been pre- sented suggesting wider political support than previously thought. According to this, ‘Prime Minister Katsura and Foreign Minister Komura, having gained the support of the genro Yamagata, the Army and the Foreign Ministry, suppressed Ito, Inoue and the Seiyukai and led the way to war’.2 Even in the most recent studies, however, the role played in the out- break of the war by Kato Takaaki, the former Japanese Minister to the Court of St James and Foreign Minister, has been left unclear. As a result, his complex position has to date barely been known: in short, a unique standpoint close to the Komura line in promoting the Anglo-Japanese Alliance on the one hand but also close to Ito and the Seiyukai on the other in his lack of enthusiasm for the war. Taking into account the fact that he was one of the key figures in the outbreak of the war, a reappraisal of his hitherto neglected political role can help us to understand Japanese diplomacy during this period more clearly. So as to address such Kato Takaaki and the Russo-Japanese War 33 issues, therefore, the theme of this paper is to clarify Kato’s activities before, during and after the Russo-Japanese War. JAPANESE DIPLOMACY AFTER THE BOXER REBELLION Tensions between Japan and Russia rose significantly after the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 when Russian troops continued their occupation of Manchuria. The man who was responsible for settling the diplomatic aftermath was Kato Takaaki, the former Japanese Minister to Britain (1894–1900) in his current role as Foreign Minister in the fourth Ito cabinet (1900–01). Kato was not a member but was nevertheless closely associated with the Seiyukai, the ruling party of the Ito cabinet, and he pursued diplomatic policy in consultation with men like Ito and Minister of Communications, Hara Takashi (a good friend and a leading figure in the Seiyukai).3 The primary feature of Kato’s diplomacy was to promote the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by distancing himself from the Army. When he became Foreign Minister in the Ito cabinet, to prevent any inter- ference from the Army he made it a condition of his appointment that all diplomatic issues should be conducted through him. And in the course of settling the Xiamen Incident which had occurred during the second Yamagata cabinet (1898–1900), when the Army had responded to the Boxer Rebellion by occupying Xiamen, he took a strong line against the Army’s military designs with measures such as forcing diplomats who had cooperated with the Army to resign.4 The second feature of Kato’s diplomacy was his strategy to deter Russia’s advance in the Far East by reinforcing links between Japan and Britain. He had enthusiastically promoted such links since his days as minister to Britain, and had built friendships with figures such as Ernest Satow, the British minister to Japan, and Baroness Eleanora Mary d’Anethan, the English wife of the Belgian Minister to Japan, and when he was appointed Foreign Minister he was highly appraised by British diplomats and The Times as having ‘a quite deep knowledge of English’, ‘experience and skill’, ‘knowing Britain very well’ and ‘having wide knowledge and sound judgement’.5 In 1901, tensions between Japan and Russia rose further when the Russians signed a compact with China which they tried to use as grounds for continuing their occupation of Manchuria, but Kato obtained the support of countries including Britain and launched protests against Russia which forced the compact to be dis- solved. Also, just before he resigned as Foreign Minister on the occasion when Germany proposed a triangular agreement between Germany, Britain and Japan, he showed a positive response, thus creating an oppor- tunity for signing an alliance with Britain.6 In this way he constructed a platform for the subsequent Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In May 1901, the Ito cabinet was forced to resign due to internal con- flicts and in June the first Katsura cabinet (1901–1905) was formed. When he was first appointed Prime Minister, Katsura asked Kato to.
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