During the Cold War, and in the past decade, U.S. policy often viewed nuclear weapons apart from the rest of the U.S. military establishment, with nuclear weapons serving to deter a global nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union or Russia.
I think it was its set up
Many great European powers had been exploiting China's weak economic system to enforce their own trade regulations for years. The United States simply wanted to join the fray, so the Open Door notes were sent to the European powers basically stating, "Hey, you guys can't own all of China, make sure that all countries get to trade equally with them."
Just as a side note, the Open Door policy with China was extremely hypocritical for the United States, as the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 basically stated that none of the European powers could interfere with the Western Hemisphere... While no one was allowed to touch the Americas, the United States was apparently allowed to mess with the rest of the world.
