Twenty-one claims

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The twenty-one demands ( Chinese  二十 一條  /  二十 一条 , Pinyin Èrshíyī tiáo ; Japanese 対 華 二十 一 ヵ 条 要求 , Taika Nijūikkajō Yōkyū ) were presented to the President of the Republic of China , Yuan Shikai , on January 18, 1915 by Ōkuma Shigenobu , Prime Minister of the Empire of Japan , presented.

Among them was the demand for Japanese control of Shandong Province , Manchuria , Inner Mongolia , the southern coast of China and the Yangtze River estuary. It was also required that China buy half of its military armament from Japan.

Content of the claims

The 21 demands were divided into five groups

  • The first group concerned the replacement of German influence (see Kiautschou ) on the Shandong Peninsula with Japanese influence. All privileges and concessions previously granted to the German Reich were to be granted to Japan from now on.
  • The second group concerned the strengthening of Japanese influence in southern Manchuria ( Liaoning and Jilin provinces ) and its expansion into Inner Mongolia for 80 years, that is to say until 1997. The lease for Port Arthur should be extended for another 99 years, Japanese should be allowed to acquire land and mining concessions. China should no longer grant iron construction concessions to non-Japanese companies and the Kirin - Tschangtung railway line should come under Japanese control.
  • The third set of demands was to ensure that a mixed Japanese-Chinese mining company (the Hanyeping Iron and Steel Works) would obtain the concessions and monopoly for mines on the Yangtze River by 2007.
  • The fourth group formally secured China's state sovereignty and integrity. Japan's demand that China should no longer lease (further) ports and islands to foreign powers was directed less against the powers that had already seized Chinese territories ( Great Britain , France , Russia , Portugal and Japan themselves), but rather against those who had not succeeded or who had previously refused (e.g. the United States ).
  • The fifth group of demands was crucial and threatened to turn China into a Japanese protectorate : Japanese should "advise" the Chinese government on political, financial and military matters, police forces should be administered jointly, and China should purchase at least half of its military equipment from Japan or set up as a joint Japanese-Chinese arsenal. The province of Fukien ( Fujian ), which was opposite the Japanese-controlled island of Taiwan on the mainland, was to become a Japanese sphere of influence. The Japanese should have the right to acquire land and proselytize.

International reactions

Since the main focus of the major European powers was on the war, Japan had entered the war on the side of the Entente against the German Empire the year before and the Western powers were only given an edited version without Group 5, the Japanese approach was largely ignored: France refused to react, Great Britain only questioned the sense of Japanese troop deployments parallel to the demands and Russia only spoke out against Japanese advisers to the Chinese police. Only the then neutral United States objected to the demands and tried in vain to induce Russia and Great Britain to intervene jointly.

Acceptance of claims

The contract signed by Foreign Minister Xu Shichang ( 徐世昌 ) and President Yuan Shikai ( 袁世凯 )

In the hope of further support from the great powers, China initially rejected Japan's demands on April 26, 1915. Thereupon Japan presented a modified list with apparently only 13 demands without the previous fifth group of demands, which has now been hidden from the public in a secret appendix. After Japan finally demanded acceptance of the demands on May 7 and threatened military measures, China, left alone by the other great powers, was forced to accept on May 8, but asked for further negotiations on the fifth group of demands. On May 13, the United States declared that it would not recognize any agreements concluded between Japan and China on the basis of these demands, and demanded that the former German naval base Kiautschou , which had been captured by Japan, be returned to China.

The acceptance of these demands by Yuan Shikai led to violent protests in the Chinese population and ultimately to the May Fourth Movement in 1919. By handing the 21 demands to the Chinese government, Japan tried to secure hegemony in China. Yuan Shikai's partial yielding highlighted China's weakness, which Japan did not hide.

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Vladimir Petrovich Potjomkin : History of Diplomacy , Volume Two (Die Diplomatie der Neuzeit, 1872-1919), pages 342-346. SWA-Verlag Berlin 1948
  2. ↑ The Republic of China from 1912 to 1937: Draft for a Political Event History . In: Dieter Kuhn (Hrsg.): Würzburger Sinologische Schriften, Edition Forum . 3. Edition. Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 3-927943-25-8 , chap. 4.5 From the outbreak of World War I to the end of Yuan Shikais, p. 147 ( PDF ).
  3. ↑ G. Zay Wood, pp. 68, 113-114
  4. ↑ Horst Hammitzsch (Ed.): Japan Handbuch. Country and people, cultural and intellectual life . Verlag Steiner, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-515-05753-6 , column 339.

Web links

Wikisource: Twenty-One Demands  - Sources and full texts (English)