Washington Naval Conference

Also called: Washington Conference, Washington Arms Conference

At America’s invitation the powers met in Washington to limit naval armaments and settle Pacific and Chinese questions, creating the Washington system that held Japanese expansion in check in Asia and the Pacific.

After the First World War the US, Britain and Japan were racing to build warships, and US–Japanese rivalry over the Pacific and China was sharpening. Invited by the Harding administration, delegates of nine nations met in Washington on 12 November 1921. The United States, which had stayed out of the League of Nations, now took the lead in shaping the postwar order.

The Four-Power Treaty pledged to respect the status quo in the Pacific islands and ended the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The Five-Power Naval Treaty fixed capital-ship tonnage for the US, Britain, Japan, France and Italy at a ratio of 5 : 5 : 3 : 1.75 : 1.75, and the Nine-Power Treaty affirmed China’s territorial integrity and the Open Door. Japan returned Germany’s former rights in Shandong to China.

The result was a Washington system to pair with the Versailles system in Europe. The Korean Provisional Government sent Syngman Rhee, Philip Jaisohn (Seo Jae-pil) and others to plead for independence, but the conference never took up the Korean question, and the disappointment fed into the National Representatives Conference of 1923.