Author: Yin Xinhua
Source: Historical Review, No. 5, 2021
The great powers joined forces to oppress China and pushed forward the signing of unequal treaties step by step, they put aside the plenipotentiaries of the Chinese side, negotiated with each other first, reached an agreement on the "common interest" of strengthening unequal treaty relations, and then imposed the basic framework of the Xinugu Treaty on the Qing government.
After the Opium War, Western colonialists repeatedly launched wars of aggression against China and forced China to sign a series of unequal treaties. Among these treaties, the Xinugu Treaty is "the culmination of unequal treaties" and is the unequal treaty that has the most damage to China's rights and interests. It is the product of the collective power exercised by imperialism.
Controlling and dividing Up China is the common goal of the great powers
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, liberal capitalism completed the transition to imperialism, and the great powers began the struggle to re-divide the world, intensifying the struggle for colonies and semi-colonies. The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War and the signing of the Treaty of Maguan fully exposed the weakness and decay of the Qing government and further stimulated the greedy desire of the great powers to colonize and expand China. They even believe that this is "the most appropriate time to end the handling of the Qing Dynasty" and that a "joint occupation" of China should be implemented as soon as possible, "as in Africa, it should be divided as a protectorate." With the help of the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty, Russia has accelerated the pace of seizing the "sphere of influence" in China. Germany even sent a fleet to occupy Jiaozhou Bay, forcing the Qing government to sign the Jiao'ao Concession Treaty with it. Other imperialist countries followed suit, forcing China to sign "treaties," forcibly occupying leased land in China, dividing up "spheres of influence, and vying for control of railways in China.
In the fierce struggle to divide the world, the contradictions between the great powers have intensified unprecedentedly, and imperialist wars have broken out many times. In order to plunder more interests in China, the great powers are also fighting among themselves, but no one has the ability to monopolize China, so the three-country intervention and Liao are the beginning of the frenzy of dividing up China. The great powers both fought and colluded on the issue of invading China, and the collective power intensified.
Another sinister purpose of the joint imperialist invasion of China is to suppress China's resistance forces. The unbridled colonial aggression of the great powers triggered the Boxer Rebellion, which shocked China and foreign countries. "Chaos and disturbances are all caused by foreign devils", "I hate the peace treaty the most, and I have made a mistake so far, cutting off the land and paying compensation, harming the country and the people." During the Boxer Rebellion, such leaflets and songs were circulated among the people, which fully demonstrated the anti-aggression ideas and patriotic spirit of the Chinese people. The General Department of Customs and Taxation also had to admit that China was forced to accept unequal treaties, and "as long as Sino-foreign exchanges are carried out under the provisions of these treaties, anger will continue and foreigners will not be welcomed." The great powers were highly alert to the resistance of the Chinese government and opposition, believing that they were facing "two dangers," so they quickly colluded in an attempt to give a "thorough blow" to China's resistance.
In June 1900, British Admiral Seymour first led a joint task force of more than 2,000 people to invade Beijing from the Tianjin Concession in batches, and then the countries involved in the troops developed into Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria, the United States, France, Italy, and Japan, and the number of troops sent far exceeded the previous wars of aggression against China. After invading and occupying Beijing, the Eight-Power Coalition falsely claimed that "the Chinese government is not only committed to eliminating the embassies and residents of various countries", but also "eradicating the aliens in the interior", "destroying the Tianjin concessions", and "completely severing the trade relations between all countries and all regions of the country". This absurd argument of taking an imperialist stand and proposing that the Eight-Power Alliance had no choice but to send troops to resist the Boxers' attack and protect the embassy in China is completely inverted black and white. Fundamentally, the increasingly rampant colonial aggression of the great powers was the main reason for the Boxer Rebellion. Under the guise of the "rescue envoy" of the Eight-Power Alliance, it was an attempt to control and divide China.
The most unequal treaty was concocted for adultery
After the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, in order to grab more benefits, the great powers forced the Qing government to sign the Xinugu Treaty. In the process, form and content of the conclusion of the treaty, it has taken on a different face than in the past, and is a concentrated embodiment of the collective power of imperialism.
In the course of the negotiations with China, the suspicion between the great powers and the open and secret struggles have become more obvious, and some countries have even proposed to submit the issue of indemnities that are difficult to determine to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague for adjudication. However, they eventually established the principle of "collective consultation takes precedence over individual representations", constantly coordinated each other's positions, and appeared in unison, with the intention of extracting more benefits from China. By the second half of 1900, they put aside the plenipotentiaries of the Chinese side, negotiated with each other first, reached an agreement on the "common interest" of strengthening unequal treaty relations, concocted the basic framework of the Xinugu Treaty (that is, article 12 of the "Outline of Discussion" in December 1900), and then imposed the "Outline of The Peace of The Republic" on the Qing government, and "the word "cannot be changed", and said that "if it is not allowed by the Chinese state, it is enough to meet the will of all countries." It is difficult for the ministers to have the hope of retreating from the garrisons stationed in the Gyeonggi area." The Qing government, as the other party to the negotiations, jointly sent a note to various countries to propose five articles of the draft, but the great powers ignored it, believing that China "has been defeated to this point, and still wants to negotiate peace, but only obeys the instructions of all countries." Therefore, although the Chinese representative "has full authority and holds discussions with various countries," "in fact, the other ethnic groups have agreed on their own, and it is only a note to the articles of the Day, and there is no mutual discussion." The Qing government could only be forced to accept the conditions set out by the great powers after collective consultation, and there was no room for maneuver.
In terms of treaty form, although the Treaty of Xinugu is a bilateral treaty, the object of the treaty with China has broken through the previous single country and expanded to 11 countries, including not only 8 countries that sent troops to invade China, but also Added Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, covering almost all imperialist countries with treaty relations with China. The emergence of this new form of collective contracting is an important manifestation of the great powers' intensification of colonial aggression against China and highlights the consistency of the great powers on the issue of aggression against China.
Reading the contents of the "Xinugu Treaty" carefully, the face of the imperialist collective power is even more revealed. Paragraph 12 of the main body of the treaty was formed on the basis of the "Outline of the Peace of Thought", requiring the Qing government to unilaterally assume various harsh "obligations", while the great powers as a whole enjoyed various rights, especially adding new "privileges" that seriously violated international law, such as the garrison of troops in the embassy district. The treaty also has 19 annexes, most of which are "edicts" approved by the Qing government for the outcome of a negotiation. These "edicts" will "integrate China's official instruments with the highest legal effect into the treaty in large quantities, so that the provisions of the treaty can be strongly implemented." Such a new approach " strengthened the responsibility promised by the Qing government " and embodied the great power of imperialism. According to this series of provisions, the privilege system for the great powers to exercise "quasi-ruling power" over China was also more "complete" and "strict", thus forming the most unequal treaty in China's modern history.
Collective power has brought deep disasters to China
Although the Treaty of Xinugu did not have a land-cutting clause, it was the evil result of the extreme exertion of the imperialist collective power, consolidating and strengthening the colonial rule of the great powers in China in many ways.
Politically, the great powers strengthened their control over China by setting up embassy districts and forcing China to adjust its diplomatic system, and China's sovereignty was lost. The treaty stipulates that China grants embassy boundaries reserved for foreigners to live in, and gives embassies the privilege of managing and "keeping troops and securing embassies" on their own. The embassy district became a "country within a country", which seriously infringed on China's territorial sovereignty. After the signing of the "Xinugu Treaty", the legations in China became an important tool for the great powers to restrain China and maintain treaty relations. Yun Daiying revealed: "They used this to enhance their own status, established their own forces in the political circles of Beijing, and gradually developed a situation in which Dongjiaomin Lane became the Taishang government of Beijing, and Chinese diplomats looked up to the will of imperialism and actually had the power to influence the political situation in Beijing." ”
Economically, the great powers, through extorting huge reparations, strengthened economic plunder and financial control over China and laid the foundation for the expansion of trade interests, which seriously damaged China's national economy. The treaty stipulates that the reparations are 450 million taels (customs silver), and the principal and interest total 980 million taels. The great powers participated in the plunder, and they compared with each other and competed for excess reparations, resulting in the largest amount of reparations in Modern History in China. In order to expropriate this huge amount of money from China, the treaty also stipulates that "the payment shall still be made by the manager of the Taxation Department", with "all the advances of the new customs" (customs duties), "all the advances of the permanent customs" and "all the inputs of the salt administration" as collateral for the indemnity, and that "the permanent customs at all treaty ports shall be managed by the new customs". As a result, the great powers grasped China's reliable financial resources and further expanded the scope of control over China's customs, transforming it into "an organ that represents the interests of foreign powers, controls China's finances, and is above the Chinese government." In order to raise huge sums of money, the Qing government "tried to skillfully win from the people", so that "the clams were rogue, half hungry, and the day was not happy", which brought deep disasters to the Chinese people.
Although the treaty does not require the opening of treaty ports, it stipulates that "all countries shall be treated as places where trade should be changed, and all other matters relating to trade shall be discussed." This provision broke through the limitations of the expiration of the term of the amendment, laying the groundwork for the great powers to take into account each other's different interests and needs and expand the interests of trade. At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain, the United States, Japan and other countries emphasized the right to unilaterally amend the treaty in the negotiations with China, and further seized a large number of benefits in terms of trade, shipping and operating enterprises.
Militarily, the great powers have collectively stationed troops in China, controlled the military channels that directly threaten China's political center, and seriously trampled on China's right to self-defense. The treaty stipulates that "the Dagu Fort and all the forts that obstruct the passage from the Beijing Division to the sea shall be flattened", and in order to ensure that the passage is "not in danger of being broken", it is determined that 12 places along the Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanhaiguan lines will be "garrisoned by troops left behind" by various countries. The Great Powers also imposed severe restrictions on China's military defenses along the line, and banned China from importing arms and all kinds of armaments specifically designed for the manufacture of arms for two years. These regulations, combined with the prerogatives of the garrison in the embassy district, placed the Beijing-Tianjin region, the heart of China, directly under the collective military control of the great powers.
In addition, the great powers also vigorously suppressed the resistance forces in an attempt to suppress and eliminate the resistance of the Chinese people. Of the 12 articles of the Treaty of Xinugu, the first 10 paragraphs were punitive, and the Qing government was specifically required to send ministers to Germany and Japan to apologize, erect monuments and arches in the place where German minister Klinder was killed; punish the "first scourge of the ministers" and officials outside Beijing, and at the insistence of the great powers, the Qing government was forced to carry out high-level and large-scale punishments, from the princes and ministers to local officials, a total of more than 100 people were beheaded, exiled, dismissed, and so on; the boxer rebellion of the town civil and martial arts examination was stopped for 5 years It is forbidden to set up or join anti-imperialist organizations forever, and "all offenders will be beheaded"; if local officials do not promptly suppress and punish "things that harm the people of all countries, or if there is another act of violating the law", "immediate dismissal from office and never use them"; the promulgation of the above-mentioned "edicts" on "punishing criminals" and prohibiting anti-imperialism throughout China, "for two years", and so on. As a result, the Qing government was forced to suppress the Chinese people's anti-imperialist struggle, and became a tool for the great powers to suppress resistance and become a "governor of the land".
The signing of the "Xinugu Treaty" shows that the aggression of the great powers against China was seized by a single country and developed into a collective power of imperialism, with a colonial system of strict control in the political, economic, military, and ideological fields. Under the collective control and plunder of imperialism, the Qing government had been completely reduced to a tool for the great powers to rule China. Ma Shi, an American who has long served in Chinese customs, also said: "Seventy years after direct relations with Western countries, China's status has been gradually reduced to such a point in 1842, 1858, 1860, 1885, and 1895, so that up to now, in 1901, only a few attributes of the next sovereign state have been preserved." ”
In accordance with the requirements of the "Xinugu Treaty", the Qing government sent Prince Zaifeng to Germany to apologize for the murder of the German envoy to China
Although the Treaty of Xinugu severely damaged China, the indomitable Chinese nation did not succumb to the collective power of imperialism, and the profound disaster it caused inspired the Chinese people to constantly fight for the overthrow of oppression. Ten years later, the Qing government, which had become a tool of the rule of the great powers, was driven off the stage of history in the raging fire of the Xinhai Revolution. Twenty years later, the Communist Party of China was founded, and it clearly put forward a program for national independence and people's liberation, including the abolition of the treaty and anti-imperialism. More than 40 years later, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was won, and the Chinese people achieved a comprehensive victory against foreign aggression for the first time in modern times. After the founding of New China, the unequal treaties imposed on China by the great powers and all the privileges of imperialism in China were completely eliminated, and the Chinese nation began to stand tall among the nations of the world with an independent and exalted posture.
Author Affilications:College of History and Culture, Hunan Normal University