China
In China,the term "unequal treaty" first came into use in the early 1920s. [3] Dong Wang (王栋),a professor of contemporary and modern Chinese history,noted 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] Historian 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". [4] In response,historian Elizabeth Cobbs writes in American Umpire,her argument that "democratic capitalism" has never engaged in imperialism:"Ironically,however,the treaties also resulted partly from China's initial reluctance to consider any treaties whatsoever,since it viewed all other nations as inferior. It did not wish to be equal." [5]
In many cases,China was effectively forced to pay large amounts of financial reparations,open up ports for trade,cede or lease territories (such as Outer 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. 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. 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. In addition,foreign residents in the port cities were afforded trials by their own consular authorities rather than the Chinese legal system,a concept termed extraterritoriality. [6] 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 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. [6] Germany was forced to terminate its rights,the Soviet Union surrendered them,and the United States organized the Washington Conference to negotiate them. 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] In the face of Japanese expansion in China,however,ending the system was postponed.[ citation needed ]
Towards the end of the unequal treaties
After the Boxer Rebellion and the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902,Germany started to reassess the policy approach towards China and in 1907 suggested a 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,and declared war on August 17 of the same year. 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,China refused to sign the Peace Treaty of Versailles and,on May 20,1921,eventually secured with the German-Chinese peace treaty (Deutsch-chinesischer Vertrag zur Wiederherstellung des Friedenszustandes) the first equal treaty with a European nation [9]
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. The United States Congress ended American extraterritoriality in December 1943. Significant examples did outlast World War II:treaties regarding Hong Kong remained in place until Hong Kong's 1997 handover,and in 1969,to improve Sino-Soviet relations in the wake of military skirmishes along their border,the People's Republic of China reconfirmed the 1858 Treaty of Aigun.[ citation needed ]
