Japan during World War I Army budget and expanding the fleet. The Navy thus gained significant political influence over national and international affairs. In the first week of World War I Japan proposed to the United Kingdom, its ally since 1902, that Japan would enter the war if it could take Germany's Pacific territories. On 7 August 1914, the British government officially asked Japan for assistance in destroying the raiders from the Imperial German Navy in and around Chinese waters. Japan sent Germany an ultimatum on 23 August 1914, which went unanswered; Japan then formally declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914 in the
Germany–Indonesia relations Service Poll, 60% of Indonesians view Germany's influence positively, with only 21% expressing a negative view, one of the most favorable perceptions of Germany in Asia Pacific after South Korea's and Australia's view. The relations between people of Germany and Indonesia was commenced during 19th-century colonial Dutch East Indies. Indonesian painter Raden Saleh (1807-1880) spent some times in Germany and his works influences the local art scene. On the other hand, numbers of German scientists and artists took interest in Indonesia. Such as the Prussian geographer Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn spent most of his work studying the geography and geology of