The Sino-Japanese Question
Title
The Sino-Japanese Question
Creator
Unknown
Date
No date
Source
Robert and Sally Huxley
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museusm
Contributor
Ashley Herring
Language
English
Text
THE SINO-JAPANESE QUESTION
I. Kiaochow
1. In 1897 Germany, being eager to obtain a naval base in the Far East, took advantage of the murder of two German missionaries by brigands to demand in November of that year the lease of the Bay of Kiaochow. A naval force took possession of the bay and China, unable to resist, signedan agreement on March 6, 1898 leasing to Germany for 99 years the Bay with certain islands therein and a limited area on either side of the entrance to the bay.
2. Germany was also given the right to move troops within a zone, 50 Kilometers wide surrounding the bay and the leased territory.
3. China reserved all rights of sovereignty in this zone and in the territory, but granted to Germany the right of administration within the leased territory during the period of lease.
4. Germany was permitted to fortify the bay.
5. Germany agreed not to sublet the territory to any other power.
II. Railways and Mines
6. In the second section of the Agreement the Chinese Governement sanctioned the construction by Germany of two lines of railway. A Sino-German Company was chartered by the German Government for this purpose, but the capital was chiefly German. A British investigation showed that the majority of the shares were held by the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, a syndicate of twenty or thirty German Banks in which the German Government held no interest. The German Governemnt did, however, have the right to appoint a commissioner and exercised a certain supervision over the railway company.
Only one of the projected lines was built; that from the port now known as Taingtao, to the provincial capital, Tsinan. This Line with some short branches has a total mileage of 434 kilometers. It is known as the Shantung Railway.
7. A supplementary railway agreement was signed March 21, 1900. In this it was stipulated that outside the leased territory and the 50 kilometer zone the railway was to be protected by Chinese troops, if any troops were needed , and that no foreign troops should be used for such a purpose. It was also forbidden to transport foreign troops or their munitions outside the 50 kilometer zone.
8. On Dec. 31, 1913, the Germans obtained an option upon the construction of two other lines of railway; One was to extend from Kaomi on the Shantung Railway, just inside the 50 kilometer zone, southwestwards to Hsuchou, about 400 kilometers distant in the adjoining province of Kiangsu where the new line would join the present Tientsin-Pukou Railway. The other was to prolong the Shantung Railway westward to join the Peking-Hankow Railway, but both these were to be Chinese Government Railways and not the property of the German Company or the German Government. *
9. Permission was also granted to mine coal within 30 li (10 miles0 of the railway on either side. In subsequent agreement of July 24, 1911, this privilege was cancelled in exchange for definite mining rights in three places; two of which contained coal and one iron. A separate Sino-German Company was formed for this purpose , but sold out to the railway company.
10. there is no time limit to the possession of railways or mines but it was stipulated that further agreements were to be made as to the taking over of the railway by Chinese Government.
III. Other Rights
11. Section III provides that if public works are undertaken in Shantung province and foreign assistance is needed, application shall first be made to Germany, whether for persons, capital or material.
12. A separate agreement was concluded on April 17, 1899 providing for the functioning in the leased territory of the Chinese Maritime Customs.
The commissioner was appointed by the Chinese Government, but it was stipulated that he should be a German and that the staff also, in so far as was practicable, should be German.
the Commissioner and the German Staff were selected from among the employees of the Chinese Customs Service, which is composed chiefly of Europeans and Americans. The tariff enforced was that of China. at First the port itself was made free and duties were collected only on goods that passed inland or those imported from the interior, but on Dec. 1, 1905 a revised agreement limited the free district to the moles and wharves. Duties were collected on imports for the city as well as the interior and on exports from both. As a Compensation to the port the Chinese granted 20 per cent of the receipts for the expenses of the local government.
13. On August 6, 1914 almost immediately after the outbreak of war, China declared her neutrality.
14. On August 15th the Japanese presented an ultimatum to Germany reqquiring the immediate and unconditional surrender of Kiaochow for eventual return to China, and demanded a reply by August 23rd. Japan did not inform China of this action until the 20th of August. China claims that she asked to be allowed to assist in the capture of Tsingtao, but was made to understand that her assistance would be unwelcome. *
15. Germany made no reply to the ultimatum and on August 23rd Japan declared war.
The attack upon Tsingtau she was assisted by Great Britain with a small contingent.
Great Britain landed within the leased territory and confined her operations to that territory, strictly respecting China's neutrality. Japan on the contrary deliberately violated the neutrality of China. She landed her troops at Lungkou on the northern shore of the Shantung Peninsula, about 150 Miles from the leased territory, and proceeded to cross the province, making requisitions of labor and supplies as she went and showing real Prussian brutality towards the people. These charges are supported by American missionaries on the ground.
Japan paid in military notes for the supplies received. These notes were subsequently redeemed with notes of the Yokohama Specie Bank. The notes of the Yokohama Specie Bank call for payment in local silver dollars and at first they were cashed on demand, but more recently as the price of silver has risen the bank declined to pay silver.
16. As the Japanese army moved across Shantung it constructed a military railway. This was probably the real reason for landing at that point, for they subsequently refused to take up the railway and forced China to grant them a concession for permanent line. They also seized the Chinese telegraph and post offices along the route.
17 . China, thereupon, in view of her liability for permitted the violation of her neutrality followed the precedent set in the Russo-Japanese war and established a zone of belligerency extending 100 miles west of Tsingtau.
18. Japan refused to respect the limitation of her activities and seized the whole of the railway line up to and including the three stations in the provincial capital, Tsinan, 254 miles from Tsingtau.
19. Tsingtau surrendered on November 7, 1914.
20. All necessity for further military operations in the province having ceased the Chinese Government on January 7, 1915 revoked the previous notice of a zone of belligerency and requested the withdrawal therefrom of Japanese troops.
21. Japan denounced this action and declared that the movement of her troops would notbe affected thereby.
22. After taking Tsingtau, the Japanese demanded the appointment of forty Japanese to the Chinese Customs Services and upon being refused seized the Chinese Customs at Tsingtau. Our consular reports show that she has used her control of the customs to conduct an illicit trade with the interior of China and that she has been particularly guilty in the matter of smuggling opium, which in China is contraband.
23. She has also, according to a recent report of our consul, used the railway to discriminate against the trade of other merchants than Japanese.
24. On January 18, 1915 Japan presented the notorious twenty-one Demands to China. there was no provocation whatever beyond the attempt of China to cancel the zone of belligerency s in Shantung. These 21-Demands were presented to the President of China by the Japanese Minister and not the Foreign Office. The President was moreover warned to keep them secret under threats of serious section by Japan if they should be made public. At the same time Viscount Chinda called at the State Department and left a memorandum showing that only a portion of these demands were being made. Those most seriously affecting the sovereignty of China were concealed. Similar action was taken in other countries. When in spite of this precaution the whole list was published the Japanese denied that the omitted articles were in the list of demands saying they were mere additional desiderata, but no such distinction was made in the list given to the President of China.
The negotiations proceeded slowly until on the 7th or May, 1915, Japan having increased her military forces in Shantung and in Manchuria, issued an ultimatum to China requiring a reply in 51 hours. There was nothing for China but to submit. Japan now demands that the question of Kaiochow shall be settled according to the terms of this convention signed May 25, 1915, extorted from china under threats. The Chinese hold that such convention ought to have no more validity than the treaty of Bucharest.
The terms of settlement under the Convention of 1915 are as follows:
25. Among the 21-Demands the first reads as follows:
"Art. 1. The Chinese government engages to give full assent to all matters upon which the Japanese Government may hereafter agree with the German Government relating to the disposition of all rights, interests and concessions which Germany, by virtue of treaties of otherwise, possesses in relation to the province of Shantung".
A note appended to the Convention provides as follows:
"When, after the termination of the present war, the leased territory of Kaiochow Bay is completely left to the free disposal of Japan, the Japanese Government will restore the said leased territory to China under the following conditions:
1. the whole Kiaochow Bay to be opened as a commercial port.
2. A concession under the exclusive jurisdiction of Japan to the established as the place designated by the Japanese Government.
3. If the foreign Powers desire it, an international concession may by established.
4. As regards the disposal to be made of the buildings and properties of Germany and the conditions and procedure relating there to the Japanese Government and the Chinese Government shall arrange the matter by mutual agreement before the restoration.
26. The full meaning of this will appear upon examination. The German lease has still 78 years to run.Jaan will return this to China, but in exchange she obtains a perpetual title to an exclusive Japanese municipality and that place is to be selected by Japan. What it will be is shown by our Consul who reports that she Japanese have already bought up the most desirable sites in the city of Tsingtau and will control the harbor and the railway terminus. The Japanese have moreover expropriated Chinese property over a considerable area in the rear of the city, so that they will enjoy in perpetuity all that is of value in the leasehold.
27. Ad for other properties the disposition will be made by agreement with China before restoration is made. That is to say Japan will hold on until China comes to her terms. Already she has been endeavoring to make those terms.
28. On Oct. 1, 1917 japan established a civil administration at the three most important cities on the railway outside the leased territory and outside the 50 kilometer zone, a gross violation of Chinese sovereignty which Germany never attempted. Besides this she had ever since her first occupation of the railway kept her troops along the military operations by Great Britain and Japan before China declared war, and since they are now in possession of Japan, it is agreed that Japan shall transfer them to China within one year after the signature of they Treaty of Peace upon the following conditions:
1. That an international settlement shall be established at Tsingtau in which Chinese citizens shall enjoy the same political rights as those of foreign nations.
2.China agrees to reimburse Japan for her expenses in connection with the taking of Kiaochow.
I. Kiaochow
1. In 1897 Germany, being eager to obtain a naval base in the Far East, took advantage of the murder of two German missionaries by brigands to demand in November of that year the lease of the Bay of Kiaochow. A naval force took possession of the bay and China, unable to resist, signedan agreement on March 6, 1898 leasing to Germany for 99 years the Bay with certain islands therein and a limited area on either side of the entrance to the bay.
2. Germany was also given the right to move troops within a zone, 50 Kilometers wide surrounding the bay and the leased territory.
3. China reserved all rights of sovereignty in this zone and in the territory, but granted to Germany the right of administration within the leased territory during the period of lease.
4. Germany was permitted to fortify the bay.
5. Germany agreed not to sublet the territory to any other power.
II. Railways and Mines
6. In the second section of the Agreement the Chinese Governement sanctioned the construction by Germany of two lines of railway. A Sino-German Company was chartered by the German Government for this purpose, but the capital was chiefly German. A British investigation showed that the majority of the shares were held by the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, a syndicate of twenty or thirty German Banks in which the German Government held no interest. The German Governemnt did, however, have the right to appoint a commissioner and exercised a certain supervision over the railway company.
Only one of the projected lines was built; that from the port now known as Taingtao, to the provincial capital, Tsinan. This Line with some short branches has a total mileage of 434 kilometers. It is known as the Shantung Railway.
7. A supplementary railway agreement was signed March 21, 1900. In this it was stipulated that outside the leased territory and the 50 kilometer zone the railway was to be protected by Chinese troops, if any troops were needed , and that no foreign troops should be used for such a purpose. It was also forbidden to transport foreign troops or their munitions outside the 50 kilometer zone.
8. On Dec. 31, 1913, the Germans obtained an option upon the construction of two other lines of railway; One was to extend from Kaomi on the Shantung Railway, just inside the 50 kilometer zone, southwestwards to Hsuchou, about 400 kilometers distant in the adjoining province of Kiangsu where the new line would join the present Tientsin-Pukou Railway. The other was to prolong the Shantung Railway westward to join the Peking-Hankow Railway, but both these were to be Chinese Government Railways and not the property of the German Company or the German Government. *
9. Permission was also granted to mine coal within 30 li (10 miles0 of the railway on either side. In subsequent agreement of July 24, 1911, this privilege was cancelled in exchange for definite mining rights in three places; two of which contained coal and one iron. A separate Sino-German Company was formed for this purpose , but sold out to the railway company.
10. there is no time limit to the possession of railways or mines but it was stipulated that further agreements were to be made as to the taking over of the railway by Chinese Government.
III. Other Rights
11. Section III provides that if public works are undertaken in Shantung province and foreign assistance is needed, application shall first be made to Germany, whether for persons, capital or material.
12. A separate agreement was concluded on April 17, 1899 providing for the functioning in the leased territory of the Chinese Maritime Customs.
The commissioner was appointed by the Chinese Government, but it was stipulated that he should be a German and that the staff also, in so far as was practicable, should be German.
the Commissioner and the German Staff were selected from among the employees of the Chinese Customs Service, which is composed chiefly of Europeans and Americans. The tariff enforced was that of China. at First the port itself was made free and duties were collected only on goods that passed inland or those imported from the interior, but on Dec. 1, 1905 a revised agreement limited the free district to the moles and wharves. Duties were collected on imports for the city as well as the interior and on exports from both. As a Compensation to the port the Chinese granted 20 per cent of the receipts for the expenses of the local government.
13. On August 6, 1914 almost immediately after the outbreak of war, China declared her neutrality.
14. On August 15th the Japanese presented an ultimatum to Germany reqquiring the immediate and unconditional surrender of Kiaochow for eventual return to China, and demanded a reply by August 23rd. Japan did not inform China of this action until the 20th of August. China claims that she asked to be allowed to assist in the capture of Tsingtao, but was made to understand that her assistance would be unwelcome. *
15. Germany made no reply to the ultimatum and on August 23rd Japan declared war.
The attack upon Tsingtau she was assisted by Great Britain with a small contingent.
Great Britain landed within the leased territory and confined her operations to that territory, strictly respecting China's neutrality. Japan on the contrary deliberately violated the neutrality of China. She landed her troops at Lungkou on the northern shore of the Shantung Peninsula, about 150 Miles from the leased territory, and proceeded to cross the province, making requisitions of labor and supplies as she went and showing real Prussian brutality towards the people. These charges are supported by American missionaries on the ground.
Japan paid in military notes for the supplies received. These notes were subsequently redeemed with notes of the Yokohama Specie Bank. The notes of the Yokohama Specie Bank call for payment in local silver dollars and at first they were cashed on demand, but more recently as the price of silver has risen the bank declined to pay silver.
16. As the Japanese army moved across Shantung it constructed a military railway. This was probably the real reason for landing at that point, for they subsequently refused to take up the railway and forced China to grant them a concession for permanent line. They also seized the Chinese telegraph and post offices along the route.
17 . China, thereupon, in view of her liability for permitted the violation of her neutrality followed the precedent set in the Russo-Japanese war and established a zone of belligerency extending 100 miles west of Tsingtau.
18. Japan refused to respect the limitation of her activities and seized the whole of the railway line up to and including the three stations in the provincial capital, Tsinan, 254 miles from Tsingtau.
19. Tsingtau surrendered on November 7, 1914.
20. All necessity for further military operations in the province having ceased the Chinese Government on January 7, 1915 revoked the previous notice of a zone of belligerency and requested the withdrawal therefrom of Japanese troops.
21. Japan denounced this action and declared that the movement of her troops would notbe affected thereby.
22. After taking Tsingtau, the Japanese demanded the appointment of forty Japanese to the Chinese Customs Services and upon being refused seized the Chinese Customs at Tsingtau. Our consular reports show that she has used her control of the customs to conduct an illicit trade with the interior of China and that she has been particularly guilty in the matter of smuggling opium, which in China is contraband.
23. She has also, according to a recent report of our consul, used the railway to discriminate against the trade of other merchants than Japanese.
24. On January 18, 1915 Japan presented the notorious twenty-one Demands to China. there was no provocation whatever beyond the attempt of China to cancel the zone of belligerency s in Shantung. These 21-Demands were presented to the President of China by the Japanese Minister and not the Foreign Office. The President was moreover warned to keep them secret under threats of serious section by Japan if they should be made public. At the same time Viscount Chinda called at the State Department and left a memorandum showing that only a portion of these demands were being made. Those most seriously affecting the sovereignty of China were concealed. Similar action was taken in other countries. When in spite of this precaution the whole list was published the Japanese denied that the omitted articles were in the list of demands saying they were mere additional desiderata, but no such distinction was made in the list given to the President of China.
The negotiations proceeded slowly until on the 7th or May, 1915, Japan having increased her military forces in Shantung and in Manchuria, issued an ultimatum to China requiring a reply in 51 hours. There was nothing for China but to submit. Japan now demands that the question of Kaiochow shall be settled according to the terms of this convention signed May 25, 1915, extorted from china under threats. The Chinese hold that such convention ought to have no more validity than the treaty of Bucharest.
The terms of settlement under the Convention of 1915 are as follows:
25. Among the 21-Demands the first reads as follows:
"Art. 1. The Chinese government engages to give full assent to all matters upon which the Japanese Government may hereafter agree with the German Government relating to the disposition of all rights, interests and concessions which Germany, by virtue of treaties of otherwise, possesses in relation to the province of Shantung".
A note appended to the Convention provides as follows:
"When, after the termination of the present war, the leased territory of Kaiochow Bay is completely left to the free disposal of Japan, the Japanese Government will restore the said leased territory to China under the following conditions:
1. the whole Kiaochow Bay to be opened as a commercial port.
2. A concession under the exclusive jurisdiction of Japan to the established as the place designated by the Japanese Government.
3. If the foreign Powers desire it, an international concession may by established.
4. As regards the disposal to be made of the buildings and properties of Germany and the conditions and procedure relating there to the Japanese Government and the Chinese Government shall arrange the matter by mutual agreement before the restoration.
26. The full meaning of this will appear upon examination. The German lease has still 78 years to run.Jaan will return this to China, but in exchange she obtains a perpetual title to an exclusive Japanese municipality and that place is to be selected by Japan. What it will be is shown by our Consul who reports that she Japanese have already bought up the most desirable sites in the city of Tsingtau and will control the harbor and the railway terminus. The Japanese have moreover expropriated Chinese property over a considerable area in the rear of the city, so that they will enjoy in perpetuity all that is of value in the leasehold.
27. Ad for other properties the disposition will be made by agreement with China before restoration is made. That is to say Japan will hold on until China comes to her terms. Already she has been endeavoring to make those terms.
28. On Oct. 1, 1917 japan established a civil administration at the three most important cities on the railway outside the leased territory and outside the 50 kilometer zone, a gross violation of Chinese sovereignty which Germany never attempted. Besides this she had ever since her first occupation of the railway kept her troops along the military operations by Great Britain and Japan before China declared war, and since they are now in possession of Japan, it is agreed that Japan shall transfer them to China within one year after the signature of they Treaty of Peace upon the following conditions:
1. That an international settlement shall be established at Tsingtau in which Chinese citizens shall enjoy the same political rights as those of foreign nations.
2.China agrees to reimburse Japan for her expenses in connection with the taking of Kiaochow.
Original Format
Letter
Files
Collection
Citation
Unknown, “The Sino-Japanese Question,” No date, R. Emmet Condon Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.