Sell Opium, Then Go to War When It Is Confiscated—What the British Empire Taught Japan About the Modern State

The other day, I was watching a history program about the Meiji Restoration when the Opium War came up.

It was the war Britain launched against Qing China in 1840.

Hearing the sequence of events again, I was struck by how outrageous it was.

Britain tried to profit by selling narcotics. When the other country cracked down on the trade, Britain sent warships and started a war.

Even a modern international criminal organization might struggle to invent a business model like that.

The Country That Suppressed the Drug Trade Somehow Lost the War

At the time, Britain was importing enormous quantities of tea from China. Unhappy about the resulting outflow of silver, it began channeling opium produced in India into the Chinese market.

Opium addiction became a severe social problem in Qing China, and the government intensified its efforts to suppress the trade.

Up to this point, the story is straightforward.

Britain, however, objected to Qing seizures of opium and restrictions on trade, and resorted to military force.

Britain won decisively. Qing China was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking, cede Hong Kong Island, and open several ports.

The country into which the drugs had been brought cracked down on them—and ended up losing territory as well.

Few stories are more unreasonable.

On the Japanese internet, Britain is sometimes mockingly called Burikasu, a crude term roughly meaning “Brit-scum.” Once you know this history, the nickname begins to sound rather apt.

A Drug War Started by a Parliamentary State

What makes the story even more interesting is that Britain already had parliamentary government and was considered a modern state.

The Opium War was fiercely debated in the British Parliament. Some politicians opposed it, but a motion criticizing the government’s policy toward China was narrowly defeated.

In other words, even the existence of Parliament and open debate failed to prevent a war like this.

Democracy is a system for reflecting the will of the people in politics.

But when those citizens and politicians prioritize their own country’s interests, the result can be a catastrophe for another country.

A decision does not become just merely because it was reached through democratic procedures.

That should be obvious, but few historical examples make it as clear as the Opium War.

Japan Learned About Military Power, Not Justice

Why did a program about the Meiji Restoration discuss the Opium War?

Because the war shocked Japan profoundly.

To Japan at the time, Qing China was a great Asian power with a long history and an advanced civilization.

Yet China was easily defeated by Britain, a country that had come from far away.

The shogunate and Japanese intellectuals must naturally have wondered:

“Are we next?”

News of the Opium War reached Japan and heightened its fear of the Western powers. This anxiety later combined with the arrival of Commodore Perry’s “Black Ships,” the opening of the country, the turmoil at the end of the shogunate, and finally the Meiji Restoration.

Of course, the Opium War was not the sole cause of the Meiji Restoration.

Still, there is a bitter irony in the fact that one force pushing Japan toward modernization was Britain’s unreasonable use of military power against China.

Japan did not learn from Britain’s admirable political ideals.

It learned the reality that without military power, even an ancient and powerful country could be treated however others pleased.

What Do British People Today Think About It?

This raises another question: How do people in Britain today view the Opium War?

The history of the British Empire has brilliant chapters, including the Industrial Revolution, parliamentary government, and advances in science and technology.

It also includes colonial rule, the slave trade, and the Opium War.

Reconciling pride in the empire’s achievements with the inconvenient history behind that glory must be difficult.

But in the case of the Opium War, we do not even need to apply today’s ethical standards.

There were people in Britain at the time who condemned the war as unjust.

So it cannot be dismissed simply by saying, “Values were different back then.”

Some people already knew it was wrong. The war happened anyway.

Another Lesson from History

There is little to gain from judging all of history solely by contemporary standards of good and evil.

The Opium War, however, offers a lesson that applies across eras.

States proclaim noble ideals: freedom, justice, the rule of law, and the progress of civilization.

But when national interests are involved, those ideals become surprisingly flexible.

And with enough military power, a country can even force its interpretation of those ideals on someone else.

That was probably the reality that the leaders of the Meiji Restoration feared.

Britain, one of the world’s leading modern states, taught Japan why modernization was necessary.

Its teaching method was somewhat brutal.

“If you want to become a civilized country, first acquire warships.” The British Empire delivered that lesson with opium and cannons.