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I have scanty knowledge about Japanese efforts to build intelligence network throughout Asia during the period between Meiji and WW2. I know that there was the whole Kokuryuukai thing, the efforts to formulate a Pan-Asian ideology and to build relations with the muslim world. I had an article about Japan-Ottoman relations during Hamidiyan Era but it mostly discussed about the formal diplomatic dimension and how the Japanese model affected Ottoman development during the period. I wonder how hard they worked for this and how were the potential partners they ran into during their quest for Pan-Asian network, especially the muslims. IOTL, Pan-Islamism was pretty much a scarecrow of Abdul Hamit II to create an illusion of strength to deter foreign threats towards Ottoman sovereignty and survival. But within that context, the Ottomans managed to hinder French expansion in Africa with the massacre of Flatters' mission as well as generating an immense prestige among the muslims around the globe and creating a network centered on Constantinople. Did the Japanese reach to comparable level ? How successful were they in establishing understanding and common ground with independent as well as colonized nations throughout Asia, before WW1 and then during the Inter War Period ?
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