Signed on November 30, 1908, the Root–Takahira Agreement consisted of an official recognition of the territorial status quo as of November 1908, the affirmation of the independence and territorial integrity of China (the "Open Door Policy" as proposed by John Hay), the maintenance of free trade and equal commercial opportunities, the Japanese recognition of the American annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Philippines, and the American recognition of Japan's position in northeast China. Implicit in the agreement were American acknowledgment of Japan's right to annex Korea and dominate southern Manchuria and the Japanese acquiescence to limitations on Japanese immigration to California.