The Russo-Japanese War and the Root-Takahira AgreementSeptember 18th, 2014
FiledSeptember 18th, 2014On November 30, 1908 American Secretary of State Eliuh Root and the Japanese Ambassador in Washington Takahira Kogoro initialed an agreement which has now come to be known as the Root-Takahira Agreement. In this agreement, both governments agreed to: 1) maintain the status quo in the Pacific; 2) assure equal opportunity to develop trade and industry in China; 3) recognize the territories possessed by each country in the Pacific region; 4) respect China’s territorial integrity and independence.1 In other words, this agreement contained two overarching themes, namely, the open door policy and respect for each other’s territorial possessions.