The Chinese, however, with their focus on local disputes could mobilize provincial forces but not unite them. .
The first clash between China and Japan took place on Korean soil with the Japanese overcoming military numerical superiority with swiftness and surprise. Only European intervention prevented Japan from gaining a network of colonies that would most likely put Japan in the dominate Asian position for an indefinite amount of time. .
Around the time of the first World War, Japan and China began industrializing their economies from their agricultural roots. Both countries were forces to produce goods which had stopped being imported from Europe during the war. Iriye goes on to say that if Japan had not been so blatantly aggressive to China for such an extended period of time, the economic ties that might have developed might have resulted in a much different balance of power both between the countries and between the countries and the rest of the world. Another point he discusses is that while the Japanese occupied Manchuria in 1895, Japan was one of the few countries that was indeed looking at Chinese culture with an untainted glance. Iriye concludes this section of the book with a comment that while Japan was militarily superior to China, China was by far much more of an economic power during the majority of the time period discussed. .
The second section of the book is on culture and extends from WWI to WWII. Iriye chooses to say that while the military focus of the later time period had been reflective of the entire world, the coming culture exchange would be as well. It seems that he was trying to make the point that people believed if they knew enough about their "enemies" and their way of life, they would be less likely to repeat the massive warfare. While both China and Japan looked closely at Western cultures, they looked deeply into each other. Also, strong economic ties began between the two countries with Japan taking the largest portion of China's import market.