Twenty-One Demands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

For other meanings, see 21 demands of MKS.

For other meanings, see 21 Demands a Dublin based band.

The Twenty-One Demands (対華二十一ヵ条要求, Taika Nijyuichikkajo Yokyu^?) were a set of demands which the Japanese government of Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu sent to the Chinese government on 18 January 1915, resulting in two treaties with Japan on 25 May 1915.

1 The 21 Demands:
2 Japanese expansionism in China
3 Initial negotiations
4 The Japanese ultimatum
5 Results
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] The 21 Demands:

GROUP I

The Japanese Government and the Chinese Government, being desirous to maintain the general peace in the Far East and to strengthen the relations of amity and good neighbourhood existing between the two countries, agree to the following articles:

Article 1 The Chinese Government engage to give full assent to all matters that the Japanese Government may hereafter agree with the German Government respecting the disposition of all the rights, interests and concessions, which, in virtue of treaties or otherwise, Germany possesses vis-à-vis China in relation to the province of Shantung.

Article 2 The Chinese Government engage that, within the province of Shantung or along its coast, no territory or island will be ceded or leased to any other Power, under any pretext whatever.

Article 3 The Chinese Government agree to Japan's building a railway connecting Chefoo or Lungkow with the Kiaochou Tsinanfu Railway.

Article 4 The Chinese Government engage to open of their own accord, as soon as possible, certain important cities and towns in the Province of Shantung for the residence and commerce of foreigners. The places to be so opened shall be decided upon in a separate agreement.

GROUP II

The Japanese Government and the Chinese Government, in view of the fact that the Chinese Government has always recognized the predominant position of Japan in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, agree to the following articles:

Article 1 The two contracting Parties mutually agree that the term of the lease of Port Arthur and Dairen and the term respecting the South Manchuria Railway and the Antung-Mukden Railway shall be extended to a further period of 99 years respectively.

Article 2 The Japanese subjects shall be permitted in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia to lease or own land required either for erecting buildings for various commercial and industrial uses or for farming.

Article 3 The Japanese subjects shall have liberty to enter, reside, and travel in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, and to carry on business of various kinds commercial, industrial, and otherwise.

Article 4 The Chinese Government grant to the Japanese subjects the right of mining in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia. As regards the mines to be worked, they shall be decided upon in a separate agreement.

Article 5 The Chinese Government agree that the consent of the Japanese Government shall be obtained in advance: (1) whenever it is proposed to grant to other nationals the right of constructing a railway or to obtain from other nationals the supply of funds for constructing a railway in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, and (2) whenever a loan is to be made with any other Power, under security of the taxes of South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia.

Article 6 The Chinese Government engage that whenever the Chinese Government need the service of political, financial, or military advisers or instructors in South Manchuria or in Eastern Inner Mongolia, Japan shall first be consulted.

Article 7 The Chinese Government agree that the control and management of the Kirin-Chungchun Railway shall be hand-ed over to Japan for a term of 99 years dating from the signing of this treaty.

GROUP III

The Japanese Government and the Chinese Government, having regard to the close relations existing between Japanese capitalists and the Han-Yeh-Ping Company and desiring to promote the common interests of the two nations, agree to the following articles:

Article 1 The two Contracting Parties mutually agree that when the opportune moment arrives the Han-Yeh-Ping Company shall be made a joint concern of the two nations, and that, without the consent of the Japanese Government, the Chinese Government shall not dispose or permit the Company to dispose of any right or property of the Company.

Article 2 The Chinese Government engage that, as a necessary measure for protection of the invested interests of Japanese capitalists, no mines in the neighbourhood of those owned by the Han-Yeh-Ping Company shall be permitted, without the consent of the said Company, to be worked by anyone other than the Said Company; and further that whenever it is proposed to take any other measure which may likely affect the interests of the said Company directly or indirectly, the consent of the said Company shall first be obtained.

GROUP IV

The Japanese Government and the Chinese Government, with the object of effectively preserving the territorial integrity of China, agree to the following article: The Chinese Government engage not to cede or lease to any other Power any harbour or bay on or any island along the coast of China.

GROUP V

Article 1 The Chinese Central Government to engage influential Japanese as political, financial, and military advisers;

Article 2 The Chinese Government to grant the Japanese hospitals, temples, and schools in the interior of China the right to own land;

Article 3 In the face of many police disputes which have hitherto arisen between Japan and China, causing no little annoyance the police in localities (in China), where such arrangement: are necessary, to be placed under joint Japanese and Chinese administration, or Japanese to be employed in police office in such localities, so as to help at the same time the improvement of the Chinese Police Service;

Article 4 China to obtain from Japan supply of a certain quantity of arms, or to establish an arsenal in China under joint Japanese and Chinese management and to be supplied with experts and materials from Japan;

Article 5 In order to help the development of the Nanchang-Kiukiang Railway, with which Japanese capitalists are so closely identified, and with due regard to the negotiations which have been pending between Japan and China in relation to the railway question in South China, China to agree to give to Japan the right of constructing a railway to connect Wuchang with the Kiukiang-Nanchang and Hangchou and between Nanchang and Chaochou;

Article 6 In view of the relations between the Province of Fukien and Formosa and of the agreement respecting the non-alienation of that province, Japan to be consulted first when-ever foreign capital is needed in connection with the railways, mines, and harbour works (including dockyards) in the Province of Fukien;

Article 7 China to grant to Japanese subjects the right of preaching in China.

[edit] Japanese expansionism in China

Main article: Japanese expansionism

Japan had gained a large sphere of interest in northern China and Manchuria through its victories in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, and had thus joined the ranks of the European imperialist powers in their scramble to establish political and economic domination over China. With the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, and the establishment of the new Republic of China under Yuan Shikai, Japan saw an opportunity to expand its position in China.

Although China was nominally on the side of the Allies in World War I, the Japanese demanded the German spheres of influence in China, and also wanted special economic rights for the Japanese occupants living in parts of China (Spence 1999, 281).*

[edit] Initial negotiations

Japan, under Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu and Foreign Minister Kato Takaaki, drafted the initial list of Twenty-One Demands, which were reviewed by the genro and the Emperor, and approved by the Diet. This list was presented to President Yuan Shikai on 18 January 1915, with warnings of dire consequences if China were to reject.

The Twenty One Demands were grouped into five groups:

Group 1 confirmed Japan’s recent acquisitions in Shandong Province, and expanded Japan’s sphere of influence over the railways, coasts and major cities of the province.

Group 2 pertained to Japan’s sphere of influence in southern Manchuria and along the South Manchuria Railway, with rights of settlement and extraterritoriality.

Group 3 gave Japan control of the Hanyeping mining and metallurgical complex, already deep in debt to Japan.

Group 4 barred China from giving any further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers except for Japan.

Group 5 contained a miscellaneous set of demands, ranging from Japanese advisors appointed to the Chinese central government and to administer the Chinese police force (which would severely intrude on Chinese sovereignty) to allowing Japanese Buddhist preachers to conduct missionary activities in China.

The full text of the Twenty One Demands can be found on Wikicommons.

Knowing the negative reaction Group 5 would cause, Japan initially tried to keep its contents secret. The Chinese government attempted to stall for as long as possible and leaked the full contents of the Twenty-One Demands to the European powers in hopes that a perceived threat to their own political/economic spheres of interest would help contain Japan.

[edit] The Japanese ultimatum

After China rejected Japan's revised proposal on April 26, the genro intervened and deleted ‘Group 5’ from the document, as these had proved to be the most objectionable to the Chinese government. The reduced ’Thirteen Demands’ was transmitted on May 7 in the form of an ultimatum, with a two-day deadline for response. President Yuan Shikai accepted, and the final form of the treaty was signed by both parties on May 25, 1915.

[edit] Results

In retrospect, the results of the revised final (Thirteen Demands) version of the Twenty-One Demands were far more negative for Japan than positive, and it is hard to comprehend what the Japanese government was attempting to obtain. Without Clause 5, the new treaty did not give Japan anything that it did not already have in China.

On the other hand, the United States expressed strongly negative reactions to Japan’s rejection of the Open Door Policy. Japan's closest ally at that time , Great Britain also expressed concern over what was perceived as Japan's overbearing, bullying approach to diplomacy, and the British Foreign Office in particular was unhappy with Japanese attempts to establish what would effectively be a protectorate over all of China.

In China, the overall political impact of Japan’s actions was positive, but British influence and propaganda created a considerable amount of public ill-will towards Japan, resulting in the May Fourth Movement, a severe boycott movement of Japanese products.

[edit] References

Spence, Jonathan D. "The New Republic." In "The Search for Modern China". 281. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999
http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/21demands.htm