Yangtze River Agreement 1900

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The Yangtze River Agreement is an agreement between the German Empire and Great Britain dated October 16, 1900 in London to regulate the common economic interests in the Chinese Empire , which later other great powers joined.

The agreement declared the "open door principle" for trade and other economic activity in China for European countries and the USA, which US Secretary of State John Hay had already called for the year before . Although the territorial integrity of China was to be preserved, the colonial powers naturally did not envisage co-determination for the country . Excepted from these provisions were the bases of the Western powers in China, and, if requested by the German side, Manchuria , which was occupied by Russia .

This standstill agreement of the Western powers due to the current equilibrium of power should prevent the supremacy of a power in China. With the agreement, England secretly pursued the goal of positioning Germany against Russia, while Germany wanted to turn England against Japan.

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