Unequal Treaties

(Redirected from Unequal Treaties (China))

The term Unequal Treaties, mainly used by modern China, refers to a series of treaties signed by several Asian states, including the Qing Empire in China, late Tokugawa Japan, and late Joseon Korea, with foreign powers, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was a period during which these Asian states were largely unable to resist the military and economic pressures of the primary Western powers.

The unequal treaties began with China after the First Opium War. Following Qing China's defeat, treaties with Britain opened up several ports to foreign trade, while also allowing Christians to reside and proselytize in such open ports unmolested. In addition, in the case of crimes, foreign residents in the port cities were afforded trials by their own consular authorities rather than the Chinese legal system (a concept termed extraterritoriality). China considered these treaties "unequal" because in most cases China saw itself as being forced to pay large amounts of reparations, open up ports, cede lands (such as Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula to the Great Britain), and make various other concessions of sovereignty to foreign "spheres of influence", following humiliating military defeats.

When the American Commodore Matthew Perry forced open Japan in 1854, similar treaties were soon forced upon it. Another similar scenario was played out in Korea. Ironically, Korea's first unequal treaties were not with the West but with Japan, which, taking a page from Western tactics, had forced Korea to open its doors to foreign commerce in 1876.

Such unequal treaties ended at various times for the countries involved. Japan was the first to throw off the shackles of its treaties during the mid 1890s, when its performance in the First Sino-Japanese War convinced many in the West that Japan had indeed entered among the body of "civilized nations". For China and Korea, the wait was somewhat longer, with China's unequal treaties completely dissolved only following Hong Kong's handover in 1997 (though it was agreed on in 1984 following talks between Deng Xiaoping and the British). The foreign unequal treaties with Korea became largely null and void following Korea's annexation by the Japanese Empire in 1910.

List of major "Unequal Treaties" (China)

• Treaty of Nanking (南京條約) (1842)

with United Kingdom

• Treaty of Wanghia (中美望廈條約) (1844)

with United States

• Treaty of Aigun (璦琿條約) (1858)

with Russia

• Treaty of Tientsin (天津條約) (1858)

with France, United Kingdom, Russia, United States

• Convention of Peking (北京條約) (1860)

with United Kingdom, France, and Russia

• Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking (中葡北京條約) (1887)

with Portugal

• Treaty of Shimonoseki (馬關條約) (1895)

with Japan

• Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory (展拓香港界址專條) (1898)

with United Kingdom

• Boxer Protocol (辛丑條約) (1901)

with United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Austro-Hungary, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands

• Twenty-One Demands (二十一條) (1915)

with Japan

List of major "Unequal Treaties" (Japan)

• Convention of Kanagawa (日米和親条約,) (1854)

with United States

• Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty (日英和親条約) (1854)

with United Kingdom

• Harris Treaty (日米修好通商条約) (1858)

with United States

• Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce (日英修好通商条約) (1858)

with United Kingdom

List of major "Unequal Treaties" (Korea)

• Treaty of Kanghwa (강화도 조약)(1876)

with Japan

• Chemulpo Treaty (신미양요)(1882)

with United States

• Taft-Katsura Agreement (가쓰라-태프트 밀약) (1905)

with United States

• Eulsa Treaty (을사조약)(1905)

with Japan

• Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty (한일 병합 조약)(1910)

with Japan

Other uses of term "unequal treaty"

The 2003 UK-US extradition treaty was called an "unequal treaty" by the RESPECT party and the Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell

External link

• Treaty Ports and Extraterritoriality in 1920s' China

Categories

Find

Find