The Open Door and War with China
THE chief reason why the Powers, and the United States principally, are so reluctant to recognize a state of war between China and themselves is that the moment war begins between nations, all existing treaties instantly terminate. Therefore if there were now recognized a state of war with China, existing treaties with all the Powers would be ended, and that “open door,” which has given the United States such prestige among the Powers, and upon which the peace of the world is said to hang, would go to with a bang. And that “open door” shut, the Powers would be thrown into a general scramble, each to gain as much as possible of China’s trade, governed by respective “spheres of influence” or actual partition. And that would certainly culminate in a general war. So, whether the Powers will now recognize a state of war with China, really turns on whether they wish to meet a general war not much later on. Therefore they hesitate to recognize any state of war with China; and surely nobody can blame them, and of all things when there is such a vortex before them. If the world is not just now in that time of distress of nations, with perplexity, then when will it ever be so? And this is one of the signs that Jesus gave of the end near. Luke 21:25. The end cometh. “Get ready, get ready, get ready.”