No. Jap was interested in the WORLD. Like Chinese beliefs, the
emperor was perceived as the order of god, and therefore god rules
the world.
Jap rivalry begin maybe around 1890s, where japan begin
disintegrating China, was begin at the 1890s..
first was Ryukyu (now called Okinawa) annex by japan, was Ryukyu
was a tributary of China.
then Korea and Taiwan falled into Japanese hands, both states were
part of China's states. Yes Korea was a Chinese dependent state to
Qing China back then.
then later Liaodong province, and finally Manchuria.
During WWII, Japan went on to invade Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and
Guangdong province, including Hainan.
China still had most of Mainland, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet,
Sichuan, etc.
Ironically, no one helped China, chinese refuges actually have to
run to Nazi Germany embassy to protect themself from the invasion,
as germans were japs ally.
So i would say Japan's thrist for China's soil begin around 1890s
to the 1940s.
50 years of agressiveness on China.
Yet they failed. Too big, Too time consuming, Too many, Too hard,
Too stubborn.
not forgetting that when all these was happening, China was in the
middle of a civil war.
Weak South east Asian countries surrendered within 1939 to
1942.
3 years to get S.E.A, but 50+ years also cannot get China.
