Unequal treaty
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese不平等條約
Simplified Chinese不平等条约
Korean name
Hangul불평등 조약
Hanja不平等條約
Japanese name
Kanji不平等条約
Kanaふびょうどうじょうやく

Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China, (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the German Empire, the United States, and the Russian Empire), and the Empire of Japan.[1] The agreements, often reached after a military defeat or a threat of military invasion, contained one-sided terms, requiring China to cede land, pay reparations, open treaty ports, give up tariff autonomy, legalise opium import, and grant extraterritorial privileges to foreign citizens.[2]

With the rise of Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism in the 1920s, both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party used the concept to characterize the Chinese experience of losing sovereignty between roughly 1840 to 1950. The term "unequal treaty" became associated with the concept of China's "century of humiliation", especially the concessions to foreign powers and the loss of tariff autonomy through treaty ports.

Japanese and Koreans also use the term to refer to several treaties that resulted in the loss of their sovereignty, to varying degrees.

China

A French political cartoon in 1898, China – the cake of Kings and Emperors, showing Queen Victoria of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Marianne of France and a Japanese samurai dividing China. "Kiao-Tchéou" and "Port-Arthur", written on slices of the cake, represent those locations in China; a stereotyped mandarin reacts with horror in the background.
The Eight-Nation Alliance inside the Chinese imperial palace, the Forbidden City, during a celebration ceremony after the signing of the Boxer Protocol, 1901.

In China, the term "unequal treaty" first came into use in the early 1920s to describe the historical treaties, still imposed on the then-Republic of China, that were signed through the period of time which the American sinologist John K. Fairbank characterized as the "treaty century" which began in the 1840s.[3]

In assessing the term's usage in rhetorical discourse since the early 20th century, American historian Dong Wang notes that "while the phrase has long been widely used, it nevertheless lacks a clear and unambiguous meaning" and that there is "no agreement about the actual number of treaties signed between China and foreign countries that should be counted as unequal."[3] However, within the scope of Chinese historiographical scholarship, the phrase has typically been defined to refer to the many cases in which China was effectively forced to pay large amounts of financial reparations, open up ports for trade, cede or lease territories (such as Russian Manchuria and Outer Northwest China (including Zhetysu) to the Russian Empire, Hong Kong and Weihaiwei to the United Kingdom, Guangzhouwan to France, Kwantung Leased Territory and Taiwan to the Empire of Japan, the Jiaozhou Bay concession to the German Empire and concession territory in Tientsin, Shamian, Hankou, Shanghai etc.), and make various other concessions of sovereignty to foreign spheres of influence, following military threats.[4]

The Chinese-American sinologist Immanuel Hsu states that the Chinese viewed the treaties they signed with Western powers and Russia as unequal "because they were not negotiated by nations treating each other as equals but were imposed on China after a war, and because they encroached upon China's sovereign rights ... which reduced her to semicolonial status".[5]

The earliest treaty later referred to as "unequal" was the 1841 Convention of Chuenpi negotiations during the First Opium War. The first treaty between China and the United Kingdom termed "unequal" was the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842.[4]

Following Qing China's defeat, treaties with Britain opened up five ports to foreign trade, while also allowing foreign missionaries, at least in theory, to reside within China. Foreign residents in the port cities were afforded trials by their own consular authorities rather than the Chinese legal system, a concept termed extraterritoriality.[4] Under the treaties, the UK and the US established the British Supreme Court for China and Japan and United States Court for China in Shanghai.

Chinese post-World War I resentment

After World War I, patriotic consciousness in China focused on the treaties, which now became widely known as "unequal treaties." The Nationalist Party and the Communist Party competed to convince the public that their approach would be more effective.[4] Germany was forced to terminate its rights, the Soviet Union surrendered them, and the United States organized the Washington Conference to negotiate them.[6]

After Chiang Kai-shek declared a new national government in 1927, the Western powers quickly offered diplomatic recognition, arousing anxiety in Japan.[7] The new government declared to the Great Powers that China had been exploited for decades under unequal treaties, and that the time for such treaties was over, demanding they renegotiate all of them on equal terms.[8]

Towards the end of the unequal treaties

After the Boxer Rebellion and the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902, Germany began to reassess its policy approach towards China. In 1907 Germany suggested a trilateral German-Chinese-American agreement that never materialised. Thus China entered the new era of ending unequal treaties on March 14, 1917 when it broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, thereby terminating the concessions it had given that country, with China declaring war on Germany on August 17, 1917.[9]

As World War I commenced, these acts voided the unequal treaty of 1861, resulting in the reinstatement of Chinese control on the concessions of Tianjin and Hankou to China. In 1919, the post-war peace negotiations failed to return the territories in Shandong, previously under German colonial control, back to the Republic of China. After it was determined that the Japanese forces occupying those territories since 1914 would be allowed to retain them under the Treaty of Versailles, the Chinese delegate Wellington Koo refused to sign the peace agreement, with China being the only conference member to boycott the signing ceremony. Widely perceived in China as a betrayal of the country's wartime contributions by the other conference members, the domestic backlash following the failure to restore Shandong would cause the collapse of the cabinet of the Duan Qirui government and lead to the May 4th movement.[10][11]

On May 20, 1921, China secured with the German-Chinese peace treaty (Deutsch-chinesischer Vertrag zur Wiederherstellung des Friedenszustandes) a diplomatic accord which was considered the first equal treaty between China and a European nation.[12]

Many of the other treaties China considers unequal were repealed during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which started in 1937 and merged into the larger context of World War II. Entering the war with the attack on Pearl Harbour, China became a major ally in the war effort and the United States Congress was pressed to end American extraterritoriality in December 1943. Significant examples outlasted World War II: treaties regarding Hong Kong remained in place until Hong Kong's 1997 handover, though in 1969, to improve Sino-Soviet relations in the wake of military skirmishes along their border, the People's Republic of China was forced to reconfirm the 1858 Treaty of Aigun and 1860 Treaty of Peking.[citation needed]

Japan

When the US expeditionary fleet led by Matthew Perry reached Japan in 1854 to force open the island nation for American trade, the country was compelled to sign the Convention of Kanagawa under the threat of violence by the American warships.[13] Although its historical importance has been argued by some to be limited,[who?] this event abruptly terminated Japan's 220 years of seclusion under the Sakoku policy of 1633 under unilateral foreign pressure and consequentially, the convention has been seen in a similar light as an unequal treaty.[14]

Another significant incident was the Tokugawa Shogunate's capitulation to the Harris Treaty of 1858, negotiated by the eponymous U.S. envoy Townsend Harris, which, among other concessions, established a system of extraterritoriality for foreign residents. This agreement would then serve as a model for similar treaties to be further signed by Japan with other foreign Western powers in the weeks to follow.[15]

The enforcement of these unequal treaties were a tremendous national shock for Japan's leadership as they both curtailed Japanese sovereignty for the first time in its history and also revealed the nation's growing weakness relative to the West through the latter's successful imposition of such agreements upon the island nation. An objective towards the recovery of national status and strength would become an overarching priority for Japan, with the treaty's domestic consequences being the end of the Bakufu, the 700 years of shogunate rule over Japan, and the establishment of a new imperial government.[16]

The unequal treaties ended at various times for the countries involved and Japan's victories in the 1894–95 First Sino-Japanese War convinced many in the West that unequal treaties could no longer be enforced on Japan.

Korea

Korea's first unequal treaty was not with the West, but instead with Japan. The Ganghwa Island incident in 1875 saw Japan send the warship Un'yō led by Captain Inoue Yoshika with the implied threat of military action to coerce the Korean kingdom of Joseon through the show of force. After an armed clash ensued around Ganghwa Island where the Japanese force was sent, which resulted in its victory, the incident subsequently forced Korea to open its doors to Japan by signing the Treaty of Ganghwa Island, also known as the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876.[17] As Japanese dominance over the Korean peninsula grew in the following decades, with respect to the unequal treaties imposed upon the kingdom by the European powers, Korea's diplomatic concessions with those states became largely null and void in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan.[18]

Selected list of unequal treaties

Imposed on China

Treaty Year Imposer Imposed on
  English name    Chinese name 
Treaty of Nanking 南京條約 1842  United Kingdom  Qing dynasty
Treaty of the Bogue 虎門條約 1843  United Kingdom
Treaty of Wanghia 中美望廈條約 1844  United States
Treaty of Whampoa 黃埔條約 1844 France
Treaty of Canton 中瑞廣州條約 1847 Sweden-Norway
Treaty of Kulja 中俄伊犁塔爾巴哈臺通商章程 1851  Russia
Treaty of Aigun 璦琿條約 1858  Russia
Treaty of Tientsin (1858) 天津條約 1858 France
 United Kingdom
 Russia
 United States
Convention of Peking 北京條約 1860  United Kingdom
France
 Russia
Treaty of Tientsin (1861) 中德通商条约 1861  Prussia, also for Deutscher Zollverein
Chefoo Convention 煙臺條約 1876  United Kingdom
Treaty of Livadia 里瓦幾亞條約 1879  Russia
Treaty of Saint Petersburg 伊犁條約 1881  Russia
Treaty of Tientsin (1885) 中法新約 1885 France
Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking 中葡北京條約 1887  Portugal
Treaty of Shimonoseki (Treaty of Maguan) 馬關條約 1895  Japan
Li–Lobanov Treaty 中俄密約 1896  Russia
Convention for the Lease of the Liaotung Peninsula 旅大租地条约 1898  Russia
Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory 展拓香港界址專條 1898  United Kingdom
Treaty of Kwangchow Wan [fr] 廣州灣租界條約 1899 France
Boxer Protocol 辛丑條約 1901  United Kingdom
 United States
 Japan
 Russia
France
 Germany
 Italy
Austria-Hungary
 Belgium
 Spain
 Netherlands
Simla Convention 西姆拉條約 1914  United Kingdom  Republic of China
Twenty-One Demands 二十一條 1915  Japan
Sino-Japanese Joint Defence Agreement 中日共同防敵軍事協定 1918  Japan
Tanggu Truce 塘沽協定 1933  Japan

Imposed on Japan

Treaty Year Imposer Imposed on
English name Japanese name
Convention of Kanagawa 日米和親条約 1854[19]  United States Tokugawa shogunate
Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty 日英和親条約 1854[20]  United Kingdom
Treaty of Shimoda 下田条約 1855  Russia
Ansei Treaties
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan (Harris Treaty) 安政条約 1858[21]  United States
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Japan  Netherlands
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Russian Empire and Japan  Russia
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between British Empire and Japan  United Kingdom
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan France
Prussian-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation 日普修好通商条約 1861[22] Prussia
Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Austria and Japan 日墺修好通商航海条約 1868[23] Austria-Hungary  Japan
Spanish-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation 日西修好通商航海条約 1868[24]  Spain
Retrocession following the Triple Intervention
Convention of retrocession of the Liaodong Peninsula [ja] 		遼東還付条約 1895[25] France
 Russia
 Germany

Imposed on Korea

Treaty Year Imposer Imposed on
English name Korean name
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876
(Treaty of Ganghwa) 		강화도 조약 (江華島條約) 1876[26]  Japan Joseon dynasty
United States–Korea Treaty of 1882 조미수호통상조약 (朝美修好通商條約) 1882[27]  United States
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1882
(Treaty of Chemulpo) 		제물포 조약 (濟物浦條約) 1882  Japan
China–Korea Treaty of 1882
(Joseon-Qing Communication and Commerce Rules) 		조청상민수륙무역장정 (朝淸商民水陸貿易章程) 1882[28]  Qing dynasty
Germany–Korea Treaty of 1883 조독수호통상조약 (朝獨修好通商條約) 1883[29]  Germany
United Kingdom–Korea Treaty of 1883     조영수호통상조약 (朝英修好通商條約) 1883[30]  United Kingdom
Russia–Korea Treaty of 1884 조로수호통상조약 (朝露修好通商條約) 1884[31]  Russia
Italy–Korea Treaty of 1884 조이수호통상조약 (朝伊修好通商條約) 1884[32]  Italy
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885
(Treaty of Hanseong) 		한성조약 (漢城條約) 1885[33]  Japan
France–Korea Treaty of 1886 조불수호통상조약 (朝佛修好通商條約) 1886[34] France
Austria–Korea Treaty of 1892 조오수호통상조약 (朝奧修好通商條約) 1892[35] Austria-Hungary
Belgium–Korea Treaty of 1901 조벨수호통상조약 (朝白修好通商條約) 1901[36]  Belgium  Korean Empire
Denmark–Korea Treaty of 1902 조덴수호통상조약 (朝丁修好通商條約) 1902[37]  Denmark
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1904 한일의정서 (韓日議定書) 1904[38]  Japan[39]
Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1904 제1차 한일협약 (第一次韓日協約) 1904[40]  Japan[41]
Japan–Korea Agreement of April 1905 1905[42]  Japan[43]
Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1905 1905[44]  Japan[45]
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905
 제2차 한일협약 (第二次韓日協約)
(을사조약 (乙巳條約)) 		1905[46]  Japan[47]
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907 제3차 한일협약 (第三次韓日協約)
(정미조약 (丁未條約)) 		1907[48]  Japan
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 한일병합조약 (韓日倂合條約) 1910[49]  Japan

Modern rhetorical usage

In 2018, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad criticized the terms of the bilateral infrastructure projects under the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in Malaysia and urged the Chinese negotiators to reassess them through invoking the historical memory of China's unequal treaties.[50][51] Stating that "they know that when they lend big sums of money to a poor country, in the end they may have to take the project for themselves," he appealed that "China knows very well that it had to deal with unequal treaties in the past imposed upon China by Western powers. So China should be sympathetic toward us. They know we cannot afford this".[52]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Unequal Treaties with China". Encyclopédie d’histoire numérique de l’Europe. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  2. ^ Fravel, M. Taylor (October 1, 2005). "Regime Insecurity and International Cooperation: Explaining China's Compromises in Territorial Disputes". International Security. 30 (2): 46–83. doi:10.1162/016228805775124534. ISSN 0162-2889. S2CID 56347789.
  3. ^ a b Wang, Dong. (2005). China's Unequal Treaties: Narrating National History. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780739112083.
  4. ^ a b c d Dong Wang, China's Unequal Treaties: Narrating National History (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2005).
  5. ^ Hsu, Immanuel C. Y. (1970). The Rise of Modern China. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 239. ISBN 0195012402.
  6. ^ Akira Iriye, After Imperialism: The Search for a New Order in the Far East, 1921–1931 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965; Reprinted: Chicago: Imprint Publications, 1990), passim.
  7. ^ Akira Iriye, After Imperialism: The Search for a New Order in the Far East, 1921–1931 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965; Reprinted: Chicago: Imprint Publications, 1990), passim.
  8. ^ "CHINA: Nationalist Notes". TIME. June 25, 1928. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2011.
  9. ^ Andreas Steen: Deutsch-chinesische Beziehungen 1911-1927: Vom Kolonialismus zur „Gleichberechtigung“. Eine Quellensammlung. Berlin, Akademie-Verlag 2006, S. 221.
  10. ^ Dreyer, June Teufel (2015). China's Political System. Routledge. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-317-34964-8
  11. ^ "May Fourth Movement". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  12. ^ Andreas Steen: Deutsch-chinesische Beziehungen 1911-1927: Vom Kolonialismus zur „Gleichberechtigung“. Eine Quellensammlung. Berlin, Akademie-Verlag 2006, S. 221.
  13. ^ Hall, John Whitney; Hall, John Whitney (1991). Japan: from prehistory to modern times. Michigan classics in Japanese studies. Ann Arbor, Mich: Center for Japanese Studies, the Univ. of Michigan. ISBN 978-0-939512-54-6.
  14. ^ Miyauchi, D. Y. (May 1970). "Yokoi Shōnan's Response to the Foreign Intervention in Late Tokugawa Japan, 1853–1862". Modern Asian Studies. 4 (3): 269–290. doi:10.1017/s0026749x00011938. ISSN 0026-749X.
  15. ^ Michael R. Auslin (2006). Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy. Harvard University Press. pp. 17, 44. ISBN 9780674020313.
  16. ^ Totman, Conrad (1966). "Political Succession in The Tokugawa Bakufu: Abe Masahiro's Rise to Power, 1843–1845". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 26: 102–124. doi:10.2307/2718461. JSTOR 2718461.
  17. ^ Preston, Peter Wallace. [1998] (1998). Blackwell Publishing. Pacific Asia in the Global System: An Introduction. ISBN 0-631-20238-2
  18. ^ I. H. Nish, "Japan Reverses the Unequal Treaties: The Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894," Journal of Oriental Studies (1975) 13#2 pp 137-146.
  19. ^ Auslin, Michael R. (2004) Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy, p. 17., p. 17, at Google Books
  20. ^ Auslin, p. 30., p. 30, at Google Books
  21. ^ Auslin, pp. 1, 7., p. 1, at Google Books
  22. ^ Auslin, p. 71., p. 71, at Google Books
  23. ^ Auslin, Michael R. (2004) Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy, p. 154., p. 154, at Google Books
  24. ^ Howland, Douglas (2016). International Law and Japanese Sovereignty: The Emerging Global Order in the 19th Century. Springer. ISBN 9781137567772.
  25. ^ Dreyer, June Teufel (2016). Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun: Sino-Japanese Relations, Past and Present. Oxford University Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-19-537566-4.
  26. ^ Korean Mission to the Conference on the Limitation of Armament, Washington, D.C., 1921–1922. (1922). Korea's Appeal to the Conference on Limitation of Armament, p. 33., p. 33, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty Between Japan and Korea, dated February 26, 1876."
  27. ^ Korean Mission, p. 29., p. 29, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between the United States and Korea. Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation dated May 22, 1882."
  28. ^ Moon, Myungki. "Korea-China Treaty System in the 1880s and the Opening of Seoul: Review of the Joseon-Qing Communication and Commerce Rules," Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Journal of Northeast Asian History, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Dec 2008), pp. 85–120.
  29. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Germany and Korea. Treaty of Amity and Commerce dated November 23, 1883."
  30. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Great Britain and Korea ... dated November 26, 1883."
  31. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Korea and Russia. Treaty of Amity and Commerce dated June 25, 1884."
  32. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Korea and Italy. Treaty of Friendship and Commerce dated June 26, 1884."
  33. ^ Yi, Kwang-gyu and Joseph P. Linskey. (2003). Korean Traditional Culture, p. 63., p. 63, at Google Books; excerpt, "The so-called Hanseong Treaty was concluded between Korea and Japan. Korea paid compensation for Japanese losses. Japan and China worked out the Tien-Tsin Treaty, which ensured that both Japanese and Chinese troops withdraw from Korea."
  34. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Korea and France. Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation dated June 4, 1886."
  35. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Korea and Austria. Treaty of Amity and Commerce dated July 23, 1892."
  36. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Korea and Belgium. Treaty of Amity and Commerce dated March 23, 1901."
  37. ^ Korean Mission, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty and Diplomatic Relations Between Korea and Denmark. Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation dated July 15, 1902."
  38. ^ Korean Mission, p. 34., p. 34, at Google Books; excerpt, "Treaty of Alliance Between Japan and Korea, dated February 23, 1904."
  39. ^ Note that the Korean Mission to the Conference on the Limitation of Armament in Washington, D.C., 1921–1922 identified this as "Treaty of Alliance Between Japan and Korea, dated February 23, 1904"
  40. ^ Korean Mission, p. 35., p. 35, at Google Books; excerpt, "Alleged Treaty, dated August 22, 1904."
  41. ^ Note that the Korean diplomats in 1921–1922 identified this as "Alleged Treaty, dated August 22, 1904"
  42. ^ Korean Mission, p. 35., p. 35, at Google Books; excerpt, "Alleged Treaty, dated April 1, 1905."
  43. ^ Note that the Korean diplomats in 1921–1922 identified this as "Alleged Treaty, dated April 1, 1905"
  44. ^ Korean Mission, p. 35., p. 35, at Google Books; excerpt, "Alleged Treaty, dated August 13, 1905."
  45. ^ Note that the Korean diplomats in 1921–1922 identified this as "Alleged Treaty, dated August 13, 1905"
  46. ^ Korean Mission, p. 35., p. 35, at Google Books; excerpt, "Alleged Treaty, dated November 17, 1905."
  47. ^ Note that the Korean diplomats in 1921–1922 identified this as "Alleged Treaty, dated November 17, 1905"
  48. ^ Korean Mission, p. 35., p. 35, at Google Books; excerpt, "Alleged Treaty, dated July 24, 1907."
  49. ^ Korean Mission, p. 36., p. 36, at Google Books; excerpt, "Alleged Treaty, dated August 20, 1910."
  50. ^ Bland, Ben (June 24, 2018). "Malaysian backlash tests China's Belt and Road ambitions". Financial Times. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  51. ^ "Analysis | New Malaysian government steps back from spending, Chinese projects". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  52. ^ Beech, Hannah (August 20, 2018). "'We Cannot Afford This': Malaysia Pushes Back Against China's Vision". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 22, 2022.

Bibliography

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