Both China and Japan emerged from their self-imposed isolationism to become major political and economic forces by the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first. However, these two Asian powers gained their position on the world's stage in different ways and responded to international threats and trends far differently throughout the past century. In particular, Japan's embracing the Western imperialist model and China's resistance to it shaped their respective futures during the first half of the twentieth century. Imperialism in fact brought immense military and political conflicts between China and Japan, culminating in the latter's invasion of China immediately before World War Two. Japan made up for its relatively tiny geography through a beefed up military, industrial development, and political and economic ambitions of pan-Asian control. China, though industrially underdeveloped, responded to the Japanese invasion through a systematic defense. Their subsequent roles in the Second World War led to disaster for both nations, but in the end both China and Japan have emerged as major world powers.

             Japan adapted to Western imperialism by playing the same game. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan instated many of its initially Western-friendly practices, and grew on par with its European and North American counterparts in terms of political, industrial, and military prowess. China, on the other hand, resisted Western imperialism and corresponding processes of "modernization" vehemently. However, China's stubborn stance in the midst of international upheaval led to intense internal turmoil, civil war, and events like the Boxer Rebellion. Dual forces of isolationism and expansionism raged within Chinese borders, whereas Japan remained relatively united in the common cause to compete with Western European and North American superpowers. Neither tactic proved truly successful. By the middle of the twentieth century, China had become economically and politically stagnant and Japan's defeat in World War Two led to less Japanese political potency than the country had hoped for.