Page "Taishō period" Paragraph 8

Japan's hegemony in northern China and other parts of Asia was facilitated through other international agreements.

One with Russia in 1916 helped further secure Japan's influence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, and agreements with France, Britain, and the United States in 1917 recognized Japan's territorial gains in China and the Pacific.

The Nishihara Loans ( named after Nishihara Kamezo, Tokyo's representative in Beijing ) of 1917 and 1918, while aiding the Chinese government, put China still deeper into Japan's debt.

Toward the end of the war, Japan increasingly filled orders for its European allies ' needed war material, thus helping to diversify the country's industry, increase its exports, and transform Japan from a debtor to a creditor nation for the first time.