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preface
Hughes, who was ousted from office, did not easily admit defeat, arguing that the Washington Conference did not substantially eliminate the risk of a large-scale imperialist hegemony in the Pacific, and Australia's national security crisis was riddled. Hughes insisted that Australia must forge a close political and military alliance with the United States to ensure Australia's security and regional hegemony.
Pursue an Australian-American alliance to deal with Japan's hegemonic competition in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia
To that end, Hughes decided to travel to the United States to publicize his concerns about Japan's expanding military power and Australia's defense security. After arriving in the United States, Hughes gave speeches everywhere, calling on the United States to establish a strategic vision, provide guarantees for Australia's security, and establish close security cooperation with Australia.[73] The U.S. government ignored Hughes' pleas, and the New York Times even commented that Hughes' trip to the United States was "begging" the United States for an Australian-American close relationship and military alliance that was impossible to achieve.
The global economic crisis that broke out throughout the capitalist world in the late 2020s not only exacerbated tensions between the imperialist powers, but also made relations between Australia and the United States tense and difficult due to economic and trade issues. The severe economic situation has led the United States to increasingly pursue economic egoism in the field of trade and implement a subsidy policy for agricultural products. This is very bad for Australia, which is also a major exporter of agricultural products, and the two countries often quarrel over US trade policy. The global economic crisis has also further worsened relations between the imperialist countries, and the imperialist powers have therefore intensified their arms buildup and war.
Against this backdrop, the pacifist ethos that had permeated society with the signing of the Quad Treaty was rapidly fading, and the Australian government had to consider how to respond to the looming Pacific War. In view of the fact that Australia's relationship with the United States is not close, and the "isolationist" sentiment is pervasive in American society, Australia can only rely on its own security on Britain, fantasizing that the British Royal Navy can come to the aid of Australia in times of crisis and fight for Australia.
Quad Treaty
However, Australian politicians and military circles are well aware that this may be wishful thinking in Australia, given that Britain faces fierce competition from emerging imperialism in both Europe and the Pacific, and Australia's security is not a top priority for the British Empire. Australia is only a small part of Britain's global hegemony, and it is very likely that Britain will sacrifice Australia's interests at any time for its own hegemony. Australian politicians and military personnel are deeply aware of this and are therefore very concerned about Australia's future security.
To make matters worse, due to Germany's defeat and the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, Britain misjudged the war situation in the Far East, believing that there was no hostile force in the Asia-Pacific region that could threaten British interests. Therefore, Britain did not seriously build the Singapore naval base as planned, making it a naval and air fortress in the Asia-Pacific region capable of resisting Japanese military expansion. Britain's miscalculation of the situation in the Far East and the global economic crisis that followed soon led the British government to doubt the need to build the Singapore naval base in the mid-2020s and finally decided to stop the construction of the base.
The Australian government and military are very unhappy about this, believing that it will harm Australia's national security and interests in Southeast Asia. Australian Prime Minister Bruce was very upset, and he saw the Singapore naval base as the first line of defense against Japanese aggression. If Singapore could not resist the Japanese attack, then Australia would be Japan's next target for aggression. Bruce predicted that if Japan and some European powers launched a war against Britain at the same time, Britain would have to leave all its armed forces in the European theater and would not be able to send troops to the Far East and Southeast Asia, let alone aid Australia.
If that happens, Australia will be in a precarious situation to fight alone. The Australian government therefore hoped that Britain would not stop building a military base in Singapore, but Australia's proposal was not taken seriously by the British government. Australia's fears were not unfounded, and the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941 proved that Bruce's proposals were quite politically predictable.
Japan withdraws from the Washington Naval Treaty
Fearing for their own safety, Bruce and other Australian politicians recognized that former Prime Minister Hughes' proposal was indeed far-sighted, and that Australia's best option now was to strengthen its navy and air force to withstand Japanese attacks for as long as possible until the British fleet could come to the rescue. Relations between the imperialist powers became increasingly tense after the First World War, and Japan's increasingly aggressive expansion in the Asia-Pacific region in particular caused unease among the US government and military. In order to dominate the Pacific and Far East, the United States has also used its vast military-industrial capacity to intensify its arms expansion war.
In 1925, the United States again sent a large fleet of 56 warships to Australia, and was warmly welcomed by Australia, which had always worried about its own security and was bent on alliance with the United States. The reason why the U.S. government sent such a large fleet to Australia is because the U.S. government and military see this long-distance naval visit as a rehearsal for a very likely Pacific war. Under the terms of the five-power naval agreement, the United States cannot station a large naval presence in its colony of the Philippines.
In the event of war with Japan, the United States would have to send a fleet thousands of miles from the nearest Hawaiian naval base to Japan. The distance from Hawaii to Australia was similar to its distance to Japan, so the U.S. Navy viewed the trip to Australia as a planned, purposeful rehearsal for war with Japan. "The enemy of an enemy is a friend," Australia, which knows this well, is pleased with the United States' preparations for war, and a common enemy has brought two countries that are not close closer together. Australia therefore not only looked forward to the visit of the American military, but also gave the same warm hospitality as the arrival of the American military in 1908.
However, to the disappointment of the Australian government and military, the United States did not form a military alliance or close military cooperation with Australia as expected because of the military visit, let alone promised to ensure Australia's security and interests in future wars in the Pacific. The U.S. government believes that this move will not benefit the hegemony and interests of the United States in the Pacific, and will also stimulate Japan and damage the huge economic and trade relationship between the United States and Japan.
However, this action of the US military did bring Australia and the United States closer, and the United States believed that in the event of a war with Japan, Australia, not Hawaii, could become a strategic forward base for the US military, and the US military could be deployed nearby to fight the main Armageddon with the Japanese army. With the deepening of the capitalist economic crisis, the source of war in World War II quickly emerged in Europe and Asia. In 1933, Hitler announced Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations, and Japan withdrew from the League on the pretext that the League did not recognize the puppet Manchukuo it fostered.
In 1934, Japan brazenly announced its withdrawal from the Washington Naval Treaty in order to expand its arms and war, which triggered the curtain of the imperialist powers' unleashed arms expansion war. Japan also blatantly violated the provisions of the 1930 London Conference on the Control of the Arms Race by massively building giant warships and refused to sign the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936. Against this background, the imperialist powers resumed their frenzied arms race.
Japan not only expanded its armaments on a large scale, but also openly challenged the "open door" policy of the Paris Peace Conference on maintaining China's territorial integrity and equal opportunities for all countries in China, in an attempt to monopolize China and establish an exclusive Japanese militarist sphere of influence in China and the Far East. To this end, Japan launched the "918" incident, invaded and occupied northeast China, and then attacked the Chinese army in Shanghai, provoking the "1.28" incident in an attempt to invade and occupy the whole of China. Japan's aggression against China threatens the interests of the Western imperialist powers in China and makes their expansionist ambitions clear.
Japan's unscrupulous aggression against China and its aggressive arms expansion war have further deteriorated the situation in the Far East and Southeast Asia, and Japan's attempt to annex China alone has fundamentally damaged the interests of the Western powers in China, and has therefore met with strong opposition and resistance from Britain and the United States. Japan's attempts to expand aggression in the Far East and Southeast Asia have also made the Australian government and people worried about their own security. Out of misgivings about British military power and fears for its own safety, the Australian government once again pleaded with the United States to lend a helping hand, form a military alliance with Australia, and provide military assistance and protection to Australia.
However, at this time, the United States had its own interests, so it still ignored Australia's bitter requests. In the face of Japan's frantic aggression, expansion and arms expansion, the United States, on the one hand, massively expanded its naval base in Hawaii to prepare for the Pacific War, which could break out at any time; On the other hand, it maintains close economic and trade relations with Japan, taking advantage of Japan's aggression and arms expansion against China to make a big arms business and make war profits. In view of the huge economic and trade interests between the United States and Japan and the initiative in US-Australian relations, the United States has no intention of breaking with Japan at this time and establishing a formal military alliance with Australia.
Resources:
[1] G.P.Taylor，“New Zealand，the Anglo-apaneseAlliance and the 1908 Visit of the American Fleet”，Australian Journal of Politics & History，Vol.15，Issue1，1969，pp.55-76.
[2] Joanne Wallis，“Hollow Hehemon：Australia'sDeclining Influence in the Pacific”，Diplomat，21September 2016.
[3] Nagata Yuriko，“The Japanese in Torres Strait”，AnnaShnukal，Ramsay Guy and Nagata Yuriko（eds.），Navigating Boundaries：The Asian Diaspora in TorresStrait，Canberra，Pandanus Books，2004，pp.138-159.Kate Bagnall，A Legacy of White Australia：Recordsabout Chinese Australians in the National Archives，2018，http：//naa.gov.au/collection/publications.