两次世界大战期间日本的中东外交与日英关系

Japan's Middle East Diplomacy in the Interwar Period and Japanese-BritishRelations

本文旨在探讨两次世界大战期间日本的中东外交及日英关系变迁。这一时期日本的中东外交可分为三个阶段:1918年至1932年为开拓期,以推进“贸易通商”为核心,协助日本在一战后完成经济复苏;1933年至1936年为调整期,随着英国对日本的疑虑上升,在中东陆续推出经济反制政策,应对“经济竞争”开始成为日本中东外交的主线;1937年至1939年为突变期,随着集团经济和大国对抗时代来临,日本与中东的贸易空间急剧收缩,开始更多关注如何利用中东扩大其“战略安全”利益。这二十年日本中东外交的转变,既体现出日本对中东需求的变化,也客观反映出日英关系“合作-竞争-对抗”的发展轨迹。日英不仅在远东存在尖锐矛盾,在英国视为禁脔的中东也暴发利益冲突,这加速了两国关系的质变。

This article aims to explore Japan's Middle East policy and the changes of Japanese-British relations during the interwar period.Japan's Middle Eastdiplomacy during this period can be divided into three phases:from 1918 to 1932,the pioneering period,with the promotion of"trade and commerce"as the core,helping Japan to complete its economic recovery after World War I;from 1933 to 1936,the adjustment period,as Britain's suspicion of Japan rose,economic countermeasures were introduced in this region,and"economic competition"became the main line of Japan's diplomacy in the Middle East;from 1937 to 1939,the mutation period,with the advent of the bloc economy and great power competition,Japan's trade with the Middle East shrank sharply and it began to focus more on how to use the Middle East to expand its"strategic security"interests.The transformation of Japan's Middle East diplomacy in these two decades reflects not only the changes of Japan's demand for the Middle East,but also reveals the trajectory of"cooperation,competition,confrontation"in Japan-British relations.In addition to the sharp contradictions between Japan and Britain in the Far East,interest conflicts also erupted in the Middle East,which Britain regarded as its exclusive domain,and this accelerated the qualitative change in relations between both countries.