What was the Tongmenghui (Sun Yat-Sen et al) stance on Japan in the early 1900s?

by lordkuruku

I'm not an expert on the era, and I'm a bit confused by a couple ostensibly conflicting events:

  • 1894-5: First Sino-Japanese War
  • 1890s-1910s: Chinese intellectuals study abroad in Japan, form the Tongmenghui, bring down the Qing dynasty
  • 1931: Japan invades Manchuria, sets up puppet state, eventually we get the Second Sino-Japanese War

Mostly, I'm confused by the comfort of people like Sun Yat-Sen and Qiu Jin with Japan, when Japan had just tried to invade China. The Tongmenghui were obviously no big fans of the Qing, so was it a "enemy of my enemy is my friend" sort of situation? So much of my understanding of Sino-Japanese relations is colored by the Rape of Nanking that I don't really know much of how the two nations viewed each other before that.

Thank you!

cckerberos

I'll have to leave the rest to people more knowledgeable about prewar China, but:

when Japan had just tried to invade China

The First Sino-Japanese War wasn't an invasion of China; it was a successful Japanese attempt to remove Korea from the Chinese sphere of influence and place it within the Japanese sphere.