British and American loans supported Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, while Soviet aid went to Mao's Communists. Those policies irritated Japan, yet American commercial links still delivered oil, steel, scrap metal, and other materials its war effort needed. Strategic dependence therefore coexisted with growing diplomatic friction. American isolationism also raised the question of whether President Franklin D. Roosevelt could draw the United States into a new crisis.
Notable Point · 7:14-9:10
Loans to China and supplies to Japan
Britain and the United States could support Chinese Nationalists while American oil, steel, and scrap exports still sustained Japanese military industry.