American policy in the Far East has made it abundantly evident that the United States does not regard the self-imposed limitations upon its activity as extending to Asia.

In her case there is lacking the quid pro quo by which the United States has justified its demand that European powers refrain from interfering in America.

By no means, however, has the Government admitted the right of Asia to impinge on the American continents.
In 1912 Washington heard that Japan was negotiating with Mexico for a concession on Magdalena Bay.

Senator Lodge promptly introduced a resolution in the Senate, declaring that "when any harbor or other place in the American continents is so situated that the occupation thereof for naval or military purposes might threaten the communication or the safety of the United States, the Government of the United States could not see, without grave concern, the possession of such harbor or other place by any corporation or association which has such relation to another government, not American, as to give that government practical power of control for naval or military purposes--" This resolution, which passed the Senate by a vote of 51 to 4, undoubtedly represented American sentiment, at least with regard to the foreign occupation of any territory bordering on the Caribbean or on the Pacific between Panama and California.
A more subtle danger lay in the financial claims of European powers against the various states in Central America, and the possibility of these claims being used as levers to establish permanent control.

Most of these foreign demands had a basis in justice but had been exaggerated in amount.