“...Japan invaded China in 1937 and declaration of its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1940 ( that was also the start of the infamous Rape of Nanjing0...”[SeekAndFind, post 6]
Wrong.
Imperial Japan invaded Manchuria - then as now part of mainland China - in September 1931. The Japanese had already badgered the Chinese into many concessions, but wanted to expand control and claim larger shares of Chinese resources. They set up a puppet state, occupied the region and extended their takeover of territory in other areas until surrendering in 1945; many historians date the start of World War Two to the 1931 invasion, though academics seem to have retreated from this interpretation in recent years.
The Rape of Nanking or Nanjing Massacre began in December 1937 and went of for six weeks. This depredation was characteristic behavior of the Imperial Japanese Army after taking a city, and stands out only in terms of extent.
The entire notion that the United States provoked Japan to start warring is absurd. As a quick-maturing industrial nation cursed with a booming population Japan had been searching ever more desperately for additional resources, and subject populations. Its critique of European and US colonial actions can be argued both ways, but its treatment of natives in Korea, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, and other spots gives the lie to any claim that the Japanese were really interested in justice for locals, or in removing the oppressive imperial yoke. In every instance, their mastery and exploitation was far more cruel, oppressive, and unjust. And their historical attitudes are the stuff of actual history and legend, dating back centuries: well before America existed to be blamed.
Much like Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan’s assertions that it was being cornered and felt threatened were a joke. And an excuse.
Americans of 1940 didn’t possess the guile nor the patience to scheme in the manner some conspiracy theorists believe. We still don’t.
I don’t blame the US for starting WWII/forcing Japan to fight, but the fact is that they had built a modern country dependent on oil and we (along with Britain and Holland) cut off most of their oil. Once that was done (justifiably, in response to Japanese aggression - THEY started it), they had no choice but to fight. It was no accident that when they went on a tear in 1941, they quickly drove towards the oil of Indonesia.
Regardless of how we would arrive at that same point (where we needed oil for our economy to function), we’d do exactly the same.