청일전쟁 개전 시기의 일본 언론의 대외론* ― 개전 정당화 논리와 전후 국가 구상 ― = The Japanese Press’s Foreign Affairs Discourse at the Outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War - Justifications for the Outbreak of War and Visions of the Postwar State -

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Even before the dispatch of troops from both China and Japan to the Joseon Dynasty, the Japanese press had already been seeking ways to dismantle the Qing Dynasty’s suzerainty over Joseon through military force. Consequently, it was inevitable that the Japanese press would rally behind a hardline foreign affairs discourse following the military deployment.
The proposal for Joseon’s internal reform put forward by the Japanese press was a strategic move intended to pave the way for making Joseon a protectorate and to trigger a war with the Qing Dynasty. The Japanese press defined the Qing’s refusal of these internal reforms as a forfeiture of its suzerain rights. Furthermore, by demanding the withdrawal of the Qing minister and troops, the press sought to fundamentally terminate the tributary relationship between Joseon and the Qing Dynasty. When the Joseon government subsequently canceled the internal reforms, the Japanese press framed this decision as a result of the Qing’s “interference based on a suzerain-vassal relationship” and resolved to initiate the war.
Through the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese press aimed to establish an imperialist nation-state and construct a Japan-centered international order in East Asia. From the perspective of the Japanese press, the Sino-Japanese War was an intentional war that broke out in the process of attempting to fundamentally dismantle the Joseon-Qing subordinate relationship through military pressure.