Phan Bội Châu assistance from China, but the country was forced to abandon its suzerain relationship with Vietnam after the 1884–85 Sino-French War. Phan and Cường Để decided to seek aid from Japan, which had recently won a war against Russia, had successfully imposed reforms and seemed more inclined to help out revolutionaries in a nearby Asian country. Phan was selected to visit Japan to secure the funds needed to sustain Duy Tân Hội. Phan did not speak Japanese and had no contacts in Japan, so he sought help from Liang Qichao, who was living in Japan since being exiled years earlier. Liang
Peter C. Phan is the first non-Anglo to be elected President of the Catholic Theological Society of America. In 2010 Phan was given the John Courtney Murray Award, the highest honor of the Catholic Theological Society of America, in recognition for outstanding and distinguished achievement in theology. A festschrift was published in 2016 in his honor, focusing on the theme of world Christianity. On March 30-31, 2017, Georgetown University hosted an international symposium to discuss Phan's influence and legacy entitled "Theology without Borders: Celebrating the Legacy of Peter C. Phan." This meeting addressed Phan's scholarly work on aspects of theology, including patristics, ecclesiology,