It wasn’t only Japanese global expansionism. The Japanese were committing the most hideous war crimes imaginable in China. Stuff that would almost make the Nasi’s say OMG.
That is a good point. Japanese brutality drove much of the opposition to them. Believe it or not, the hero of Nanking was a Nazi. He saved thousands of Chinese lives.
It did.
The Germans, especially in the Philippines, were horrified at what the Japanese did and they were no shrinking violets.
No joke, a Nazi Party official in Nanking (I think his last name was Rabe) intervened on multiple occasions to save Chinese civilians from atrocities, and communicated with Berlin about the horrors he had seen.
Interestingly, even the Japanese realized they had screwed up at Nanking...when subsequent Chinese cities were taken, the MPs were sent in ahead of the occupation troops, and when the troops finally came in they were accompanied by their senior officers.