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Why did the Beiyang Government accept the demands from Japan even when Japan had revealed its colonial intentions about Shandong? |
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See answer below. |
The 31-year-old Gu Weijun, China's ambassador to the United States, was the youngest member of China’s delegation. He was well-regarded by President Xu Shichang and ranked second in the delegation. He served both the Beiyang Government and the Nationalist Government as foreign minister, acting premier and ambassador, and had represented China in major international conferences such as the Paris Peace Conference and the Washington Conference. With a career in diplomacy that spanned several decades, Gu Weijun was widely regarded as one of China's greatest diplomats in near-modern history, and was lauded as the “top diplomat of the Republic of China" . His good looks also earned him a place alongside Wang Jingwei (汪精衛) and Mei Lanfang (梅蘭芳) in the “handsomest trio in the Republic of China” .
The Paris Peace Conference did not include the Twenty-One Demands in the agenda as it was regarded as extraneous to the post-war settlement. However, they agreed to discuss the Shandong issue as Shandong had been within the German sphere of influence. On January 28, 1919, Gu Weijun delivered his speech without using a script, acknowledging that while China had indeed signed treaties in 1915 and 1918 that promised to transfer Germany’s Shandong interests to Japan, the agreements had been obtained under duress and thus should be considered void. In addition, as an issue related to Germany, the Shandong Problem had become a matter to be resolved by the Paris Peace Conference. Evoking the Wilsonian principles of self-determination as well as sovereignty and territorial integrity, he made the claim for the rightful return of Shandong to China. His claim, both sound and reasonable, was made in a manner neither overbearing nor servile which, along with his striking presence, garnered him much praise from both the leaders of and public opinion in the United States and Europe
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Why did the Beiyang Government accept the demands from Japan even when Japan had revealed its colonial intentions about Shandong? |
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In the early years of the Republic, the Japanese continued to encroach on Chinese territory, as reflected in their military takeover of the German spheres of influence in Shandong and presented explicitly in the Twenty-One Demands. The demands were categorized into five groups: the first confirmed Japan’s takeover of the former German interests in Shandong; the second demanded a 99-year extension of Japan’s privileges in the Chinese regions of Guandong (關東, also spelt Kwantung) Leased Territory, South Manchuria (南滿) Railway Zone, Anfeng (安奉) Railway Zone and the Jichang (吉長) Railway Zone; the third granted the Japanese monopoly of the mining industry in Hanyang (漢陽), Daye (大冶) and Pingxiang (萍鄉); the fourth barred China from giving any further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers, and the fifth demanded that China hire Japanese consultants to advise the country on its military and financial affairs, allow Japanese consultants or a Sino-Japanese venture to run its police force, purchase military equipment from either Sino-Japanese joint ventures or import them directly from Japan, grant Japan railroad-building rights in the provinces of Hunan (湖南), Hubei (湖北), Zhejiang(浙江), Jiangxi (江西) and Fujian (福建), and acknowledge Japan’s right to the land on which its hospitals, temples and schools were located in China. In the face of Japan’s military might and political pressure, the government of Yuan Shikai first adopted delaying tactics and stalled for time. However, as Yuan Shikai required support from the Japanese to seize power as dictator, his government did not refuse the demands outright. Fearing public wrath, the government announced its partial acceptance of the terms in the first four groups, while those in the fifth were rejected. Later, in a bid to bolster its power, the government of Duan Qirui followed a similar path and capitulated to Japan’s demands in exchange for loans. Thus China’s national interests were betrayed to further the selfish ambitions of a few. |
