Wilson’s foreign policy embodies a contradictory combination of Wilsonian idealism and the pursuit of hegemony under realistic conditions. Regarding Western Hemisphere policy, Wilson's first foreign policy statement after taking office was a statement on Latin America. He vowed that "the United States will never again increase territory by conquest" in order to "cultivate friendship and win over our Central and Southern States." Trust in Sister Nations of the Americas.” But in fact, during his tenure (1913-1917), the United States also set an unprecedented record for intervention in countries in the Western Hemisphere. The fundamental consideration of his Western Hemisphere policy is to establish absolute U.S. control over Central America, the Caribbean, and the Panama Canal.

Looking at China policy, in the more than 140 years from Washington to Hoover, the United States has experienced 30 presidents, among whom Wilson has the closest relationship with China. The fundamental principle of Wilson's China policy is still "open door, sharing interests", and the main competitor is Japan. Wilson and Japan sometimes fought and sometimes compromised, but in more cases he sought to compromise with Japan at the expense of China's interests in order to ease Japan-U.S. conflicts. This is true in dealing with the "Twenty-One" issue; it is also true with the "Lansing-Ishii Agreement" of 1917; at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Wilson regarded China as a victim on the altar of power politics and regarded it as his A bargaining chip in a huge international political gamble in Paris fully exposed the essence of Wilson's China policy - friendship and justice in words, and extreme egoism in action.