Why did Japan invade China? Is it for material reasons?

1. The land area is small and the population is large, which requires a large number of immigrants and new land; because it is an island country, it has longed for the mainland since ancient times (unfortunately, China is too close to it); the world financial crisis , diverting domestic attention and deflecting crises through foreign wars.

2. The development of capitalism will inevitably bring about an urgent need for overseas resources and overseas markets. However, the imbalance of the world's political economy and the political organizational power, economic strength and military power of the capitalist powers, especially Their advantages in weapons and equipment allow them to seize overseas resources and open up overseas markets through violence.

3. Japan embarked on the path of capitalist development much later than the European and American powers, and its national strength is relatively weak. Therefore, Japanese rulers generally have a mentality of rushing to catch up, coupled with their inherent murderous and militaristic bushido. Due to the influence of tradition and the emperor's political system, the development of Japanese capitalism relies more on violent external expansion than the European and American powers.

4. To seize overseas resources and develop overseas markets through violence, you must have strong military power. For this reason, the Meiji government took military nation-building as its fundamental national policy, tried its best to expand armaments, and quickly embarked on the path of militarism.