The Japanese viewed all the lands of Asia to be the rightful property of the Imperial Japanese Government and the Emperor.</ref> The seizures of Korea, China and parts of Soviet Union, which had begun at the turn of the 20th century, had been taking an upswing. The Japanese had been kept from realizing their goal of unifying or dominating the Asian lands by the presence of foreign military forces in the Philippines (United States), Hong Kong, Malaysia (United Kingdom) and the Dutch East Indies. Japan had hoped that they could strike fast and hold off reinforcements long enough to broker a peace accord from a position of strength.