Unequal contracts
The so-called unequal treaties ( Chinese 不平等條約 / 不平等条约, Pinyin bùpíngděng tiáoyuē ) were between the mid-19th century and the First World War between the "Western" foreign powers ( Britain , France , USA , Russia , Japan ) on the one hand and China , Japan ( Tokugawa Shogunate ), Korea , Persia and Siam on the other hand closed. They saw multiple restrictions on sovereigntyin the fields of politics , administration and jurisdiction .
Contracts with china
Concessions were coerced from the Middle Kingdom, especially in the area of trade policy (see China trade ), such as the opening of ports ( contract or treaty ports ) or reparation payments . In addition, Japan and China were forced to open up to Christian missions . Appropriate consideration by the contractual partners was not intended. The most important dissimilar contracts include:
- Treaty of Nanking (南京 條約) (August 29, 1842, China - Great Britain)
- Treaty of Humen (虎門 條約) (October 8, 1843, China - Great Britain)
- Treaty of Wanghia (望 廈 條約) (July 3, 1844, China - USA)
- Treaty of Huangpu (黃埔 條約) (October 24, 1844, China - France)
- Treaty of Aigun (璦 琿 條約) (May 28, 1858, China - Russia)
- Treaty of Tianjin (天津 條約) (June 1858, China - France, Great Britain, USA, Russia)
- Beijing Convention (北京 條約) (1860, China - Russia, France, Great Britain)
- Burlingame Treaty (1868, China - USA)
- Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Beijing (中葡 北京 條約) (1887)
- Lüda lease (March 27, 1898, China - Russia)
- Treaty of Shimonoseki (馬關條約) (April 17, 1895, China - Japan)
- Second Beijing Convention (1898, China - Great Britain)
- Guangzhouwan Treaty (1898, China - France)
- Xinchou Treaty (辛丑 條約) (September 7, 1901, China - eight-state alliance (Great Britain, USA, Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary) and Spain, Netherlands, Belgium)
- 21 Demands (二十 一條) (May 25, 1915, China - Japan)
At the official level, the term unequal contracts was first used in 1926 by the Beijing government in connection with the repeal of the Sino-Belgian treaty of 1865. It was not until seventeen years later that the Chinese government was able to announce the end of the era of "unequal treaties" based on the treaties signed with the USA and Great Britain in 1943 (relating to the annulment of extraterritorial rights, among other things).
Treaties with Japan
Treaties of European states with Japan:
- Treaty of Kanagawa (March 31, 1854)
- Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty (October 4, 1854)
- Treaty of Shimoda (February 7, 1855)
- Treaties with Russia, the Netherlands and France (1858)
- American-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty (July 29, 1858)
- Japanese Treaty with Prussia (January 24, 1861)
Treaties of Japan with other Asian countries:
- Japanese-Korean Friendship Treaty (February 26, 1876)
- Contracts with China, see above
Contracts with Siam
- Bowring Treaty (April 18, 1855, Siam - Great Britain)
Treaties with Vietnam
- Treaty of Saigon (June 2, 1862, Vietnam - France)
- Treaty of Huế (1883) (25 August 1883, Vietnam - France)
- Treaty of Huế (1884) (June 6, 1884, Vietnam - France)
See also
literature
- Jacques Gernet : The Chinese World. The history of China from the beginning to the present time (= Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch 1505). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-518-38005-2 .
- Harald Kleinschmidt: European international law and the unequal treaties around the middle of the 19th century (= OAG-Taschenbuch 87). Iudicium-Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-89129-183-2 .
- Jonathan D. Spence : China's Path to Modernity. Hanser, Munich [a. a.] 1995, ISBN 3-446-16284-4 .
Web links
- Harald Kleinschmidt: European international law and the unequal treaties around the middle of the 19th century. (PDF; 708 kB) Long version on the OAG website
- Overview of Chinese contracts, some of them with contract texts
Individual evidence
- ^ Mark W. McLeod: The Vietnamese Response to French Intervention, 1862-1874 . Greenwood, 1991, p. 54.