The South Pacific
The formal annexation and incorporation of the Bonin Islands and Taiwan into the Japanese Empire can be viewed as first steps in implementation of the “Southern Expansion Doctrine” in concrete terms.
However, World War I had a profound impact on the “Southern Expansion Doctrine”. Japan was able to occupy the vast areas in the Pacific formerly controlled by the German Empire: i.e. the Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands and Palau. In 1919, these island groups officially became a League of Nations mandate of Japan and came under the administration of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The focus of the “Southern Expansion Doctrine” expanded to include these island groups (Nan'yo), the economic and military development of which came to be viewed as essential to Japan's security.
Read more about this topic: "Strike South" Group
Famous quotes containing the words south and/or pacific:
“...I always said if I lived to get grown and had a chance, I was going to try to get something for my mother and I was going to do something for the black man of the South if it would cost my life; I was determined to see that things were changed.”
—Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)
“The doctor of Geneva stamped the sand
That lay impounding the Pacific swell,
Patted his stove-pipe hat and tugged his shawl.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)