The Attitude of American diplomats toward the Japanese invasive war on China prior to the Pearl Harbor was a controversial issue. Within the Depts. of state, the political adviser Stanley K. Hornbeck, the pivotal figure on Far Eastern affairs, at first sympathized with the Japanese need to have another resource land for survival. However, when Japanese proclaim to establish a New East Asian Order in November, 1938. He angrily denounce the Japanese claim. Henceforth, he advocate to help China from collapse, eventually to boycott Japan. While Ambassador Nelson Johnson was step by step to concur Hornbeck's points of view. Joseph Grew, the American Ambassador to Japan, was opposed to standing against Japan, for he consider the Japanese "New East Asian Order" is similar to the American "Manifest Destiny" in the 1840s. He even wanted the American government to support Japanese claim to make assurance of the American interests in China. In short, he does not want the United States fight Japan in order to save China. However, when the Japanese navy was moving southward to seize Vietnam, threating the security of the Philippines, and the Japanese atrocity in Chinese cities was reported over and over again, eventually making the U.S-Japanese direct confrontation inevitable.