To tell the truth, the unequal treaties signed in the late Qing Dynasty had too great an impact on China's development at that time, and also had a great impact on the living standards of the Chinese people. Even now we seem indignant about the humiliating treaties, not to mention how painful and helpless the people were at that time.
What is even more incomprehensible is why, even if the Qing Dynasty collapsed, the Republic of China government was established, and China contributed to become one of the victorious powers in World War I, it still encountered difficulties at the Paris Peace Conference. When the news of the Paris Peace Conference demanding that China be divided into Japan by german occupation of the Jiaodong Peninsula reached China, the whole of China boiled over, and the vigorous "May Fourth Movement" began.
Although the big warlords who were actually in power at that time fought each other and won over some foreigners to gain their support, they did not dare to make mistakes on such major issues of right and wrong, and they were embarrassed if they accidentally provoked public resentment. In this case, in 1925, when an invitation to the Republic of China government to go to Europe to sign a treaty was placed on the table of Duan Qirui, the provisional ruler of the Republic of China at that time, it showed how helpless he was.
This treaty is not actually an unequal treaty, but a "compensation" treaty. Because of the aforementioned matter about the Paris Peace Conference, the Western countries, led by the United States, Britain and other countries, invited China to sign the Svalbard Treaty together as a kind of appeasement. What is the Treaty of Svalbard? It means that the treaty-making countries are free to enter Svalbard, where they can carry out normal production and commercial activities.
It all started with the discovery of Svalbard. Norway is a sovereign state in the region, but because it was a Dutch who first discovered the island, and then the British and Finnish explorers discovered the island's resources, the island's ownership began to be embarrassed.
Geographically, the island should be under Norwegian jurisdiction, but the problem is that, in accordance with traditional international practice, if territorial rights to a land are to be acquired, both "first discovery" and "effective administrative jurisdiction" must be available. Norway had the advantage of administrative jurisdiction, but lost out on being the first to discover. Countries are reluctant to give up the interests of the island, after all, the island has a large number of coal mines and other mineral resources, and it is also located in the Arctic region, which has important geographical significance.
In the end, the discussion came to the end of the discussion, and it appeared that Norway was the sovereign state of the archipelago, but other Allies were also able to freely enter and exit and carry out various social activities in the Svalbard Treaty, and Svalbard became the first and only demilitarized area in the Arctic, where all countries were not allowed to exchange fire.
In 1920, 18 countries, including Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and other countries, took the lead in signing the Svalbard Treaty; five years later, in 1925, the contract added another 33 new Allies, including China. It's just that this treaty seemed to Duan Qirui at that time, and it was useless to sign it or not, but it was just a symbolic "compensation" treaty anyway.
But I did not expect that this treaty, which was helplessly signed at the beginning, would make China permanently profitable. Why? Because of the special location of the place mentioned above. The land in the Arctic region is basically divided up by the surrounding countries, and in this case, it is undoubtedly very difficult for China to investigate in the Arctic. But the existence of the Svalbard Treaty has given China a land where it can freely conduct Arctic expeditions without having to negotiate with other countries.
In 2004, the Yellow River Station in the Arctic of China was established here, which provided very favorable conditions for solving the mysteries of many disciplines such as space physics and space environment exploration, and in the years to come, it could continue to profit from China.
Reference: Treaty of Svalbard