TheRoot–Takahira Agreement (高平・ルート協定,Takahira-Rūto Kyōtei)was a major 1908 agreement between the United States and theEmpire of Japan that was negotiated betweenUnited States Secretary of StateElihu Root andJapanese Ambassador to the United StatesTakahira Kogorō. It was a statement of longstanding policies held by both nations, much like theTaft–Katsura Agreement of 1905. Both agreements acknowledged key overseas territories controlled by each nation. Neither agreement was a treaty and no Senate approval was needed.
Signed on November 30, 1908, the Root–Takahira Agreement consisted of an official recognition of the territorial status quo as of November 1908, the affirmation of the independence and territorial integrity of China (the "Open Door Policy" as proposed byJohn Hay), the maintenance offree trade and equal commercial opportunities, the Japanese recognition of the American annexation of theRepublic of Hawaii and control the Philippines, and the American recognition of Japan's control overKorea andManchuria, as well as the Japanese acquiescence to limitations onJapanese immigration to California.[1]
With the defeat of Spain in theSpanish–American War, the United States had become a major power inEast Asia. The Japanese government began to see the American annexation of Hawaii and China's aggressive economic policies as threats. The American government, on the other hand, was increasingly concerned by Japanese territorial ambitions at the expense of China and with the modernizing and strengtheningImperial Japanese Navy in the aftermath of theRusso-Japanese War. Strong Anti-Japanese sentiment in California angered Japan, but it was resolved by theGentlemen's Agreement of 1907. TheGreat White Fleet of American battleships visited Japan in October 1908. President Theodore Roosevelt originally intended to emphasize the superiority of the American fleet over the smaller Japanese navy, but instead of resentment the visitors arrived to a joyous welcome by elite and the Japanese public a few days before Root and Takahira met. The agreement calmed tensions for a while. However, Japan's rapprochement to Russia after 1907 and its increasing economic investment intoManchuria made the agreement result in a weakened American influence and greater Japanese control over China.[2]
