The unequal treaties were a series of agreements made between East Asian countries—most notably Qing China, Tokugawa Japan (in the 1850s) and Joseon Korea—and imperial powers—most notably the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Empire of Japan (starting in the late 1870s), Italy, Portugal, the United States and Russia—during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were often signed following a military defeat suffered by the Asian party, or amid military threats made by the Western powers. The terms specified obligations to be borne almost exclusively by the Asian party and included provisions such as the cession of territory, payment of reparations, opening of treaty ports, relinquishment of the right to control tariffs and imports, and granting of extraterritoriality to foreign citizens.
With the rise of Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism in the 1920s, both the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 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, and continues to serve as a major impetus for the foreign policy of China today.
Japan and Korea also use the term to refer to several treaties that resulted in a reduction of their national sovereignty. Japan and China signed treaties with Korea such as the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 and China–Korea Treaty of 1882, with each granting privileges to the former parties concerning Korea. Japan after the Meiji Restoration also began enforcing unequal treaties against China after its victory in the First Sino-Japanese War for influence over Korea as well as China's coastal ports and territories.
China
thumb|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 ruled by Emperor Guangxu. "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.]]
thumb|The [[Eight-Nation Alliance inside the Chinese imperial palace, the Forbidden City, during a celebration ceremony after the signing of the Boxer Protocol, 1901]]
The unequal treaties
The earliest treaty later referred to as "unequal" was the 1841 Convention of Chuenpi negotiations during the First Opium War. The first treaty between the Qing dynasty and the United Kingdom termed "unequal" was the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. Through the treaty of Nanjing, Britain obtained Hong Kong and trading access to the five treaty ports (Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Xiamen). In 1843, the Treaty of the Bogue added extraterritorial rights that exempted British citizens from Chinese law in the treaty ports. The treaty ports served as bases for foreign missionaries.
After Chiang Kai-shek declared a new national government in 1927, the Western powers quickly offered diplomatic recognition, arousing anxiety in Japan.
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.
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.
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.
Many treaties China considered unequal were repealed during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, China became an ally with the United Kingdom and the United States, which then signed treaties with China to end British and American extraterritoriality in January 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.
Development of terminology
In China, the term "unequal treaties" 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. The term was popularized by Sun Yat-sen.
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."
Japan
Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Japan was also subject to numerous unequal treaties. 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. 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.
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, such as the Ansei Treaties, which forcefully opened five Japanese ports, established extraterritoriality for foreigners and set fixed, low tariffs for Japan, which caused significant economic disruption and political outrage in Japan.
Unequal treaties with the United States and Europe also prevented Japan from unilaterally setting tariff rates on imported goods. As a result, it was hampered in developing domestic industries that could compete with imported goods.
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 as it was a great power in its own right. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation in 1894, negotiated by Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, was the first successful move toward eliminating extraterritoriality which was fully achieved in 1899. This view gained more recognition following the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, whereby Japan most notably defeated Russia in a massive humiliation for the latter.
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.
During this period Korea also signed treaties with Qing China and the West powers (such as the United Kingdom and the United States). In the case of Qing China, it signed the China–Korea Treaty of 1882 with Korea stipulating that Korea was a dependency of China and granted the Chinese extraterritoriality and other privileges, and in subsequent treaties China also obtained concessions in Korea, such as the Chinese concession of Incheon. However, Qing China lost its influence over Korea following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895.
As Japanese dominance over the Korean peninsula grew in the following decades, it imposed more unequal treaties, beginning with the 1882 Treaty of Chemulpo, which allowed Japan to station troops in Korea following the Imo Incident. with respect to the unequal treaties imposed upon the kingdom by the Western powers (1882 Shufeldt Treaty), Korea's diplomatic concessions with those states became largely null and void by 1910, when it was annexed by Japan.
Selected list of unequal treaties
Imposed on China
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"|Treaty
! rowspan="2"|Year
! rowspan="2"|Imposer
! rowspan="2"|Imposed on
|-
! English name
! Chinese name
|-
| Treaty of Nanking
|
| 1842
|
| rowspan="37" |
|-
| Treaty of the Bogue
|
| 1843
|
|-
| Treaty of Wanghia
|
| 1844
|
|-
| Treaty of Whampoa
|
| 1844
| France
|-
| Treaty of Canton
|
| 1847
| Sweden-Norway
|-
| Treaty of Kulja
|
| 1851
|
|-
| Treaty of Aigun
|
| 1858
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| Treaty of Tientsin (1858)
| rowspan="4"|
| rowspan="4"| 1858
| France
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| Convention of Peking
| rowspan="3"|
| rowspan="3"| 1860
|
|-
| France
|-
|
|-
| Treaty of Tientsin (1861)
|
| 1861
| , also for Deutscher Zollverein
|-
| Chefoo Convention
|
| 1876
|
|-
| Treaty of Livadia
|
| 1879
|
|-
| Treaty of Saint Petersburg
|
| 1881
|
|-
| Treaty of Tientsin (1885)
|
| 1885
| France
|-
| Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking
|
| 1887
|
|-
| Treaty of Shimonoseki (Treaty of Maguan)
|
| 1895
|
|-
| Li–Lobanov Treaty
|
| 1896
|
|-
| Convention for the Lease of the Liaotung Peninsula
|
| 1898
|
|-
| Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory
|
| 1898
|
|-
|
|
| 1899
| France
|-
| rowspan="11"| Boxer Protocol
| rowspan="11"|
| rowspan="11"| 1901
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
| France
|-
|
|-
|
|-
| Austria-Hungary
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
| Sino-Swedish Treaty of 1908
| 中瑞通商條約
| 1908
|
|-
| Simla Convention
|
| 1914
|
| rowspan="4"|
|-
| Twenty-One Demands
|
| 1915
|
|-
| Sino-Japanese Joint Defence Agreement
|
| 1918
|
|-
| Tanggu Truce
|
| 1933
|
|}
Imposed on Japan
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="3"|Treaty
! rowspan="2"|Year
! rowspan="2"|Imposer
! rowspan="2"|Imposed on
|-
! colspan="2"| English name
! Japanese name
|-
! colspan="2"| Convention of Kanagawa
|
| 1854
|
| rowspan="10"| Tokugawa shogunate
|-
! colspan="2"| Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty
|
| 1854
|
|-
! colspan="2"| Treaty of Shimoda
|
| 1855
|
|-
! rowspan="6"| Ansei Treaties
|-
| Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan (Harris Treaty)
| rowspan="5"|
| rowspan="5"| 1858
|
|-
| Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Japan
|
|-
| Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Russian Empire and Japan
|
|-
| Treaty of Amity and Commerce between British Empire and Japan
|
|-
| Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan
| France
|-
<!--! colspan="2"| Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Harris Treaty)
|
| 1858
|
|- << Link now contained in the Ansei Treaties above. -->
<!--! colspan="2"| Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce
|
| 1858
|
|- << Link now contained in the Ansei Treaties above. -->
! colspan="2"| Prussian-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation
|
| 1861
| Prussia
|-
! colspan="2"| Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Austria and Japan
|
| 1868
| Austria-Hungary
| rowspan="4" |
|-
! colspan="2"| Spanish-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation
|
| 1868
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Mexican-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation
|
| 1888
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Retrocession following the Triple Intervention<br>
|
| 1895
| France<br><br>
|}
Imposed on Korea
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"|Treaty
! rowspan="2"|Year
! rowspan="2"|Imposer
! rowspan="2"|Imposed on
|-
! English name
! Korean name
|-
| Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876<br>(Treaty of Ganghwa)
|
| 1876
|
| rowspan="11"| Joseon dynasty
|-
| United States–Korea Treaty of 1882<br>(Shufeldt Treaty)
|
| 1882
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Treaty of 1882<br>(Treaty of Chemulpo)
|
| 1882
|
|-
| China–Korea Treaty of 1882<br>(Joseon-Qing Communication and Commerce Rules)
|
| 1882
|
|-
| Germany–Korea Treaty of 1883
|
| 1883
|
|-
| United Kingdom–Korea Treaty of 1883
|
| 1883
|
|-
| Russia–Korea Treaty of 1884
|
| 1884
|
|-
| Italy–Korea Treaty of 1884
|
| 1884
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885<br>(Treaty of Hanseong)
|
| 1885
|
|-
| France–Korea Treaty of 1886
|
| 1886
| France
|-
| Austria–Korea Treaty of 1892
|
| 1892
| Austria-Hungary
|-
| Belgium–Korea Treaty of 1901
|
| 1901
|
| rowspan="11"|
|-
| Denmark–Korea Treaty of 1902
|
| 1902
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Treaty of February 1904
|
| 1904
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1904
|
| 1904
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Agreement of April 1905
| 한일통신협정
| 1905
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1905
| 제2차 한일의정서
| 1905
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905<br>
| <br>()
| 1905
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907
| <br>()
| 1907
|
|-
| Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910
|
| 1910
|
|}
Imposed on Ryūkyū (Okinawa)
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"|Treaty
! rowspan="2"|Year
! rowspan="2"|Imposer
! rowspan="2"|Imposed on
|-
! English name
! Okinawan or Classical Chinese
|-
| Convention between the Lew Chew Islands and the United States of America
|
| 1854
|
| rowspan="11"| Ryukyu Kingdom
|-
| Convention entre la France et les Iles Liou-tchou
|
| 1855
| France
|-
| Traktaat tusschen Nederlanden en Lioe-kioe
|
| 1859
|
|-
| Establishment of the Ryukyu Domain
| 琉球藩設置
| 1872
|
|-
|
| 六ヶ条の御達書 (令達)
| 1875
|
|-
| Ryukyu Annexation Proposal
| 琉球処分
| 1878-1879
|
|}
Imposed on Thailand
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"|Treaty
! rowspan="2"|Year
! rowspan="2"|Imposer
! rowspan="2"|Imposed on
|-
! English name
! Thai name
|-
| Siamese–American Treaty of Amity and Commerce
|
| 1833
|
| rowspan="18"| Kingdom of Siam
|-
| Bowring Treaty
|
| 1855
|
|-
| Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1856
|
| 1856
| France
|-
| Danish-Siamese Treaty of 1858
|
| 1858
|
|-
| Portuguese-Siamese Treaty of 1859
|
| 1859
|
|-
|
|
| 1860
|
|-
|
|
| 1862
| , also for Deutscher Zollverein
|-
|
|
| 1863
|
|-
|
|
| 1863
|
|-
|
|
| 1863
| Sweden-Norway
|-
|
|
| 1868
|
|-
|
|
| 1869
| Austria-Hungary
|-
|
|
| 1870
|
|-
|
|
| 1893
| France
|-
|
|
| 1898
|
|-
|
|
| 1899
|
|-
| Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907
|
| 1907
| France
|-
| Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909
|
| 1909
|
|}
Imposed on Vietnam
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"|Treaty
! rowspan="2"|Year
! rowspan="2"|Imposer
! rowspan="2"|Imposed on
|-
! English name
! Vietnamese name
|-
| Treaty of Versailles (1787)
|
| 1767
| Kingdom of France
| Nguyễn lords
|-
| Bonard Treaty
|
| 1862
| France
| rowspan="11"| Đại Nam
|-
| Treaty of Huế (1863)
|
| 1863
| France
|-
| |
|
| 1864
| France
|-
| Philastre treaty
|
| 1874
| France
|-
| Harmand Treaty
|
| 1883
| France
|-
| Patenôtre Treaty
|
| 1884
| France
|}
Modern rhetorical usage
In 2018, Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad criticized the terms of infrastructure projects under the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in Malaysia, stating 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."
See also
- Century of humiliation
- China Centenary Missionary Conference
- Client state
- Foreign concessions in China
- List of Chinese treaty ports
- List of treaties of China before the People's Republic
- Most favoured nation
- Normanton incident
- Puppet state
- Sick man of Asia
- Trianon syndrome
- Western imperialism in Asia
Other unequal treaties outside East Asia:
- 1855 Bowring Treaty (Thailand)
- 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay (Iran)
- Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire
References
Bibliography
- Auslin, Michael R. (2004). Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 56493769
- OCLC 300287988
- Nish, I. H (1975). "Japan Reverses the Unequal Treaties: The Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894". Journal of Oriental Studies. 13 (2): 137–146.
- Perez, Louis G (1999). Japan Comes of Age: Mutsu Munemitsu & the Revision of the Unequal Treaties. p. 244.
- Ringmar, Erik (2013). Liberal Barbarism: The European Destruction of the Palace of the Emperor of China. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Wang, Dong (2003). "The Discourse of Unequal Treaties in Modern China". Pacific Affairs. 76 (3): 399–425.
- Wang, Dong. (2005). China's Unequal Treaties: Narrating National History. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. .
- Fravel, M. Taylor (2008). Strong Borders, Secure Nation: Cooperation and Conflict in China's Territorial Disputes. Princeton University Press.
- Halleck, Henry Wager. (1861). International law: or, Rules regulating the intercourse of states in peace and war. New York: D. Van Nostrand. OCLC 852699
- 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. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 12923609
- Fravel, M. Taylor (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.