ACTORS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN EAST ASIA AND THE MULTI‒VECTOR SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES IN THE REGION : 1931 - EARLY 1940S.

Hu Wenxiu

The article examines the system of international relations in East Asia from 1931 to the early 1940s through the lens of the interaction of key actors and the formation of a multi-vector system of checks and balances. Special attention is paid to the position of China as a semi-colonial country, limited in its sovereignty by the system of unequal treaties, and its attempts to exploit the contradictions between the great powers to preserve its national independence. The positions and interests of the key players in the region—Japan, Great Britain, the USA, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union—are analyzed, as well as the role of the Comintern and internal political factors in China. The article explores the evolution of the foreign policies of these states against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and the shifting balance of power in the region. It concludes that in the absence of formalized military-political blocs, international relations in the region constituted a dynamic, multi-vector structure with a shifting center of gravity, the stability of which some actors (Great Britain, France) sought to maintain, while others (Japan, the USSR via the Comintern, Nationalist China) aimed to transform it.

Keywords:East Asia, Soviet-Chinese relations, Comintern, Washington Conference, 1930s.