一戰后期,美國總統威爾遜提出的威爾遜主義充滿悖論。威爾遜試圖通過"民族自決原則"來解決列強與殖民地的矛盾沖突問題,同時又不得不依靠英、法、日、意等列強的支持來實現他的國際聯盟計劃。由此導致威爾遜主義與列強的利益形成沖突與合作的矛盾關系。這種矛盾關系表現在山東問題的處置上,就是威爾遜無法在民族自決的道德原則與列強奉行的強權政治原則之間求得平衡。為了實現國際聯盟,威爾遜必須在"道德"與"政治"之間作出艱難的抉擇。結果,威爾遜的內心世界陷入分裂狀態,并造成極度痛苦的自我認同危機。在山東問題的處置上,威爾遜為了國聯計劃的實現而放棄對中國的道義承諾,這對威爾遜而言是一個"受難時刻"的抉擇。

In the late stage of the First World War,the US President Wilson proposed so-called Wilsonism,which was full of paradoxes.Wilson tried to solve the confrontations between the powers and their colonies through"the Principle of National Self-determination,"but he had to rely on the support of the powers such as Britain,France,Japan and Italy to realize his plan of the League of Nations.Therefore,paradoxically Wilsonism had a both contradictory and collaborative relationship with the powers.This paradox was illustrated in the treatment of the Shandong issue,in which Wilson could not achieve the balance between the morality of national self-determination and the power politics of the powers.In order to make the League of Nations come true,Wilson had to make a difficult choice between"morality"and"politics".As a result,Wilson was trapped in a mental dilemma and thus suffered from an extremely painful identity crisis.When dealing with the Shandong issue,Wilson gave up his moral promise to China for the League of Nations.For Wilson,this was a choice made at a"suffering moment".