Unequal Treaties

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Unequal Treaties

Unequal Treaties is a term used in reference to the type of treaties signed by several East Asia

East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
n states, including Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, followed the Ming Dynasty in History of China, and was the last ruling Chinese Dynasties of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 ....
China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, late Tokugawa

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the , and the , was a feudalism regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family....
Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, and late Joseon

Joseon Dynasty

Joseon , was a sovereign state founded by Taejo Taejo of Joseon, and lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong....
Korea

Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
, with Western powers

Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
and the post-Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure....
Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until its defeat in World War II in 1945....
, during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This was a period during which these Asian states were largely unable to resist the military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
pressures from foreign powers as many unequal treaties were signed by those countries after military failure.

Overview
The earliest attempt to come to a settlement was the 1841 Convention of Chuenpeh in the wake of the First Opium War

First Opium War

The First Opium War or the First Anglo-Chinese War was fought between the East India Company and the Qing Dynasty of China from 1839 to 1842 with the aim of forcing China to allow free trade, particularly in opium....
that started in 1839.

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Unequal Treaties is a term used in reference to the type of treaties signed by several East Asia

East Asia

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, followed the Ming Dynasty in History of China, and was the last ruling Chinese Dynasties of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 ....
China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, late Tokugawa

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the , and the , was a feudalism regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family....
Japan

Japan

Joseon Dynasty

Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
, with Western powers

Western world

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure....
Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

Military

Overview

The earliest attempt to come to a settlement was the 1841 Convention of Chuenpeh in the wake of the First Opium War

First Opium War

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and Great Britain

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927....
signed the first unequal treaties under the Treaty of Nanking

Treaty of Nanking

The Treaty of Nanking or Treaty of Nanjing, signed 29 August 1842, was the Unequal Treaties which marked the end of the First Opium War between the British Empire and Qing Dynasty Empires of 1839-42....
in 1842. Following Qing China's defeat, treaties with Britain opened up several ports to foreign trade, while also allowing Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
s to reside. In addition, the administration of justice on foreign residents in the port cities were afforded trials by their own consular authorities rather than the Chinese legal system, a concept termed extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as embassy, consulates, or military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations....
.

Although the term "Unequal treaty" did not come into use until early in the 20th century, many Chinese considered the treaties unequal since the foreign powers did not reciprocate most of China's concessions with similar privileges. In many cases China was effectively forced to pay large amounts of reparations

War reparations

War reparations refer to the monetary compensation intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land....
, open up ports for trade, cede or lease territories (such as Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
to Great Britain), and make various other concessions of sovereignty to foreign "spheres of influence

Sphere of influence

A sphere of influence is an area or region over which an organization or state exercises cultural, economic, military or political domination....
", following humiliating military defeats.

When the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
Commodore Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry (naval officer)

Matthew Calbraith Perry was the Commodore of the United States Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854....
forced open Japan in 1854, Japan was soon prompted to sign the "Ansei Treaties

Ansei Treaties

The Ansei Treaties or the Ansei Five-Power Treaties are a series of treaties signed in 1858, during the Japanese Ansei era, between Japan on the one side, and the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Kingdom of the Netherlands and France on the other....
" that were similar to the ones China had signed and the same thing soon happened to Korea. Ironically, Korea's first unequal treaties were not with the West but with Japan, which, taking a page from Western tactics, had forced Korea to open its doors to foreign commerce in 1876.

Such unequal treaties ended at various times for the countries involved. Japan was the first to throw off the shackles of its treaties during the mid 1890s, when its performance in the First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War was a war fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji period Imperial Japan over the control of Korea. The Sino-Japanese War would come to symbolize the degeneration and enfeeblement of the Qing Dynasty and demonstrate how successful modernization had been in Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with the...
convinced many in the West that Japan had indeed entered among the body of "civilized nations". For China and Korea, the wait was somewhat longer. Most of China's unequal treaties were abrogated during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, when the Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , also known as Nationalist China is a country in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition into a multi-party democratic state with Political status of Taiwan....
led by Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek , Order of the Bath , served as Generalissimo of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1948. He was sometimes referred to simply as "the Generalissimo"....
emerged victorious and became a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
. China's unequal treaties almost completely dissolved only following Hong Kong's 1997 handover

Transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong

The transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, often referred to as the Handover, occurred on 1 July 1997....
. The agreement was made in 1984 following talks between Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was a prominent Chinese revolutionary, politician, pragmatist and reformer, as well as the late leader of the Communist Party of China ....
and the British under the Sino-British Joint Declaration

Sino-British Joint Declaration

The Sino-British Joint Declaration, formally known as the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, was signed by the Prime Ministers of the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom governme...
. Exception of territory seized were made by Imperial Russia (Outer Manchuria

Outer Manchuria

Outer Manchuria , known in China as Outer Northeast [China] , and Priamurye in Russia, is the territory ceded by China to Russia in the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860....
) in 1860. Korea's unequal treaties with European states became largely null and void in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan

Korea under Japanese rule

Korea was under Japanese rule as part of the Imperial Japan during the first half of the 20th century, until the surrender of Japan in 1945. Korea was occupied and declared a Japanese protectorate in 1905 , and officially annexation in 1910 through an Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty....
.

List of Unequal Treaties

Imposed on China
Treaty		Year	Imposer
English name	Chinese name	Year	Imposer
Treaty of Nanking Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanking or Treaty of Nanjing, signed 29 August 1842, was the Unequal Treaties which marked the end of the First Opium War between the British Empire and Qing Dynasty Empires of 1839-42....		1842	United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
Treaty of the Bogue Treaty of the Bogue The Treaty of the Bogue was an agreement between China and the United Kingdom, which was concluded in October 1843 in order to supplement the previous Treaty of Nanking....		1843	United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
Treaty of Wangxia		1844	United States United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
Treaty of Whampoa Treaty of Whampoa The Treaty of Whampoa was a commercial treaty between France and Qing Dynasty, which was signed by Marie Melchior Joseph Th?odore de Lagren? and Qiying on October 24, 1844....		1844	France France France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
Treaty of Aigun Treaty of Aigun The Treaty of Aigun was the Russian-China treaty that established much of the modern border between the Russian Far East and northern China . Its provisions were confirmed by the Beijing Treaty of 1860....		1858	Russia Russia Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
Treaty of Tientsin Treaty of Tientsin Several documents titled "Treaty of Tien-tsin" were signed in Tianjin in June 1858, ending the first part of the Second Opium War . France, United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States were the parties involved....		1858	France, United Kingdom, Russia, United States
Convention of Peking Convention of Peking The Convention of Peking or the First Convention of Peking is the name used for three different treaties, which were concluded between Qing Dynasty China and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Second French Empire, and Russian Empire....		1860	United Kingdom, France, Russia
Treaty of Tientsin Eulenburg Expedition The Eulenburg Expedition was a diplomatic mission conducted by Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg on behalf of Prussia and the German Customs Union in 1859-62....		1861	Prussia Prussia Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history.... , German Customs Union
Chefoo Convention Chefoo Convention The Chefoo Convention was a treaty between the Qing and British Empire Empires, which was signed by Sir Thomas Wade and Li Hongzhang in Yantai on 21 August 1876....		1876	United Kingdom
Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking		1887	Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
Treaty of Shimonoseki (Treaty of Maguan) Treaty of Shimonoseki The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanro hall on April 17, 1895 between the Empire of Japan and Qing Dynasty, ending the First Sino-Japanese War....		1895	Japan Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
Li-Lobanov Treaty Li-Lobanov Treaty The Li-Lobanov Treaty or the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty was a treaty signed on June 3, 1896 in Moscow by foreign minister Alexey Lobanov-Rostovsky and finance minister Sergey Witte on behalf of the Russian Empire and viceroy Li Hongzhang on behalf of China....		1896	Russia
Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory The Convention Between Great Britain and China Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory or the Second Convention of Peking was a lease signed between Qing Dynasty China and the United Kingdom in 1898....		1898	United Kingdom
Boxer Protocol Boxer Protocol The Boxer Protocol was an unequal treaty signed on September 7, 1901 between the Qing Dynasty of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance?Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States?plus Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands after China's defeat in the Boxer Rebellion at the hands of the Eight-Pow...		1901	U.K., U.S., Japan, Russia, France, Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia.... , Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Kaiserlich und k?niglich Monarchy was a state in Central Europe ruled by the House of Habsburg, constitutionally a personal union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary.... , Belgium Belgium * A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium.... , Spain Spain Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably.... , Netherlands Kingdom of the Netherlands From 1830 to 1954, the "Kingdom of the Netherlands" referred to the Netherlands Kingdom and its colonial possessions.Suriname was a constituent nation within the Kingdom from 1954 to 1975....
Twenty-One Demands Twenty-One Demands The were a set of demands made by the Empire of Japan under Prime Minister of Japan Okuma Shigenobu sent to the nominal government of the Republic of China on January 18, 1915, resulting in two treaties with Japan on May 25, 1915....		1915	Japan
Imposed on Japan
Treaty		Year	Imposer
English name	Japanese name	Year	Imposer
Convention of Kanagawa Convention of Kanagawa On March 31, 1854, the or was concluded between Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States Navy and the Empire of Japan. The treaty opened the Japanese ports of Shimoda, Shizuoka and Hakodate to United States trade, guaranteed the safety of shipwrecked U.S....		1854	United States
Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty The between United Kingdom and Japan was signed October 14 1854 in Nagasaki, Nagasaki. The United Kingdom was represented by James Stirling , with the governors of Nagasaki representing the Tokugawa shogunate ....		1854	United Kingdom
Ansei Treaties Ansei Treaties The Ansei Treaties or the Ansei Five-Power Treaties are a series of treaties signed in 1858, during the Japanese Ansei era, between Japan on the one side, and the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Kingdom of the Netherlands and France on the other....		1858	United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Netherlands, France
Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Harris Treaty)		1858	United States
Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce The was signed on August 26 1858 by James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and the then representatives of the Japanese government . This was an Unequal treaties, that gave Japan semi-colonial status....		1858	United Kingdom
Imposed on Korea
Treaty		Year	Imposer
English name	Korean name	Year	Imposer
Treaty of Kanghwa		1876	Japan
Chemulpo Treaty Sinmiyangyo The United States Expeditionary warfare to Korea in 1871 also known as Shinmiyangyo was the first United States military action in Korea....		1882	United States
Taft-Katsura Agreement Taft-Katsura Agreement The Taft-Katsura Agreement was a secret diplomatic memorandum signed between United States Secretary of War William Howard Taft and Prime Minister of Japan Katsura Taro on 29 July 1905....		1905	United States
Eulsa Treaty Eulsa Treaty The Eulsa Treaty or Japan-Korea Protectorate Treaty was made between the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire on 17 November 1905, influenced by the result of the Russo-Japanese War....		1905	Japan
Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty The Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty was signed on August 22, 1910 by the representatives of the Korean Empire and Empire of Japans, and was proclaimed to the public on August 29, officially starting the Korea under Japanese rule in Korea....		1910	Japan

Other uses

Recently, the term "unequal treaty" has been used by the RESPECT leader George Galloway

George Galloway

George Galloway is a British politician, author and talk show host. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1987 and currently represents RESPECT The Unity Coalition for the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency....
and the then Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems or just Lib Dem, are a Liberalism political party in the United Kingdom, formed in 1988 by merging the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party ; the two parties had been SDP-Liberal Alliance for seven years, from shortly after the formation of the SDP....
leader Menzies Campbell

Menzies Campbell

Sir Walter Menzies Campbell Order of the British Empire Queen's Counsel , commonly known as Ming Campbell, is a United Kingdom politician, Advocate#Advocates_in_Scotland and retired Sprint ....
to refer to the 2003 U.K.-U.S. extradition

Extradition

Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal....
treaty.

The 1903 Cuban-American Treaty

Cuban-American Treaty

The Cuban-American Treaty was signed on February 17, 1903 by the first President of Cuba, Tom?s Estrada Palma, and on February 23, 1903 by the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt....
, which granted the United States a perpetual lease of Guantanamo Bay, is seen as an "unequal treaty" by Professor Alfred de Zayas.

Unequal Treaties

Overview

List of Unequal Treaties

Other uses

See also

External links