After many years of the "humiliation" treaty, it turned into a surprise, and the Beiyang government, which was spurned, even did personnel work
In 1925, France forced the Chinese government to sign a "humiliating" treaty. Who would have thought that after 66 years, this treaty would become a surprise and play a major role in the scientific expedition of our country's Arctic. European and American countries have been remorseful after seeing it. What is this treaty? Why can it bring such a huge contribution to our country?
Hello everyone, here is the history of the hearth. Take you through history and see the world. Warm a pot of wine, sit on your knees, and listen to me slowly tell you.
01
The strife of the Borderlands, the formation of the Treaty of Svalbard
The time goes back to the 17th century, when the Western powers were salivating at the North Pole, the "last treasure trove of the earth", but due to the lack of wolves and meat, the Arctic territory was soon about to be divided up by these jackals, wolves, tigers and leopards. The Western powers, which had not yet eaten enough, suddenly noticed an island that had been left unowned, and it was Svalbard. As the last piece of territory in the Arctic that has no belonging, it has instantly become a piece of food in the eyes of all countries, and no one does not want to put it in their own pockets.
However, according to past international practice, if you want to own the territorial sovereignty of a piece of land, you must meet two requirements: "the first discoverer of the unknown territory" and "the effective administrative jurisdiction of the relevant territory". But in all the countries of the world at this time, there is no country that can meet the two requirements at the same time.
And who first discovered this terra nullius? Is a Dutch adventurer William Barents. His greatest passion was to take risks, leading his fleet around the world in search of territory never before.
Portrait of Barents
The discovery of Svalbard is interesting, and in 1596, after the discovery of "Bear Island" in the Arctic by William Barents and his fleet, they did not stop exploring. Instead, they continued to lead his fleet north, and just four days after the ship had sailed north, they suddenly found an island covered in ice and snow ahead. The island's steep peaks soar majestically into the clouds, and William Barents, who has countless adventures, is also amazed by the majestic scenery of the island. Experienced, he immediately sensed that the island might be ownerless.
William Barents was very excited at this time, because the expedition was so lucky that two unknown islands were discovered in a row, and if he reported this to the king, wouldn't he send it himself? So he gleefully wrote a report on the Arctic expedition, but William Barents, who had a little nine-nine in his heart, did not explicitly indicate in the report that the Dutch royal family owned the islands.
But to his surprise, before he could return to China, he had already suffered a sudden scurvy in the extreme weather of the Arctic and was buried forever in the snow-capped archipelago. After the death of William Barents, his fleet no longer had the momentum to continue its northward adventure and immediately set off for the netherlands.
Death of Barents
The cunning William Barents, though he did not specify ownership of the island, did not leave no information at all, and before his death he had given the island its name, Svalbard, which means "cold coast".
The king of the Netherlands, who received the report, was very excited and felt that his land plate was about to increase again. But he soon discovered that Svalbard was too far away from the Netherlands to make it very inconvenient to go once. Not to mention the exercise of jurisdiction over the archipelago. So the king of the Netherlands, after thinking about it, temporarily suppressed the news of the discovery of the island. With the deaths of people in the know, Svalbard has once again become a secret.
But just a decade later, Hudson, a British explorer, re-entered Svalbard, bringing the long-so-dusty island back to the world. The discovery of large herds of whales and walruses on the island attracted a large number of hunters to "make a fortune". Due to its geographical location, most of the people who arrive here are only Norwegians and Russians. But after 1858, Svalbard was plunged into an unprecedented dispute, and the original Finnish Swedish explorer Scholder, after setting foot on the island many times, found that it had such a magnificent scenery, it was still a treasure house, and a large amount of mineral resources were buried under the snow.
Hudson
As soon as the news of the mine in Svalbard came out, Svalbard, which was originally very calm, instantly became a huge piece of "fat" on the lips of the Western powers.
None of these "jackals, tigers and leopards" were willing to make concessions, and after learning the news of the mine, they successively built countless mines on the island. As more and more countries arrive on the island, the contradiction of unequal distribution of resources becomes more acute, in order to change the problem of unequal distribution of resources. The Great Powers quickly came up with a strategy to deal with it, which was to sign a clear and unambiguous contract.
So on February 9, 1920, an international organization of 17 European and American countries, led by Britain and the United States, plus Japan, signed the Treaty of Svalbard in Paris, France.
The advent of the Svalbard Treaty made Svalbard the sole demilitarized zone in the Arctic, and the land could never be used for war. Citizens of the Contracting States have the right to enter Svalbard at will and may even engage in some productive and commercial activities on the island, provided that they comply with Norwegian law.
02
China's fate with the Treaty of Svalbard
After the advent of the Treaty of Svalbard, the long-turbulent Svalbard Islands finally returned to its former calm, but these powers found that the Treaty of Svalbard was extremely low in international recognition due to the small number of signatories. Especially in Asia, few people know about its contents. In order to improve the status of this treaty in Asia, these powers are wondering which Asian country other than Japan will join the signing of this treaty. Soon the French thought of China, why? Could it be the conscience of the Western powers?
The real reason is actually because the First World War has just ended, and after China, as the victorious country, has made great achievements in the Western battlefield, instead of gaining a trace of the vested interests of the victorious countries, it has once again encountered a reshuffle of the territory of the great powers like the defeated countries. In order to appease the broad masses of the Chinese people and to gain the support of the Chinese government, France specially invited China to come to the Netherlands to sign the Treaty of Svalbard.
In 1925, China was in power under the Beiyang government, and warlords were frequently divided and warlike. It was during such a chaotic period that Duan Qirui, the head of the Beiyang government at the time, suddenly received an invitation from France to sign a treaty.
Since the signing of so many treaties that humiliated the country in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, making China gradually become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, the Chinese people will react violently when they hear about the treaty. Feeling that signing the treaty would certainly not be beneficial, Duan Qirui refused the invitation of France.
Duan Qirui
France was very unhappy to hear it, originally in the countries that signed the contract this time, there were many countries that were pro-British and pro-American, and if they did not pull a helper into the gang, they might not be able to say how low the right to speak in the future. So the French think that since you don't eat soft, then I will come hard. So France threatened the Duan Qirui government that if it did not send someone to sign the treaty, be careful that I brought someone to beat you.
The Beiyang government, which was being overwhelmed by the warlords in the country, could not even quell the domestic war, let alone France, which was more militarily advanced. Therefore, under the coercion and inducement of France, Duan Qirui had to send a small group of people to the Netherlands, and with a sense of humiliation, he signed the Treaty of Svalbard and became an Allied Country in this treaty.
As citizens of the Treaty, Chinese have full access to the Svalbard region.
But at that time, China was too backward militarily, and even Japan, which was across the sea from us, could not reach the ships of the Beiyang warlords. Not to mention the distant Svalbard Islands. So this territory was like a chicken rib, which was left behind by the Beiyang government.
However, it is reasonable to say that such a big thing as the signing of a treaty should leave only a few words of record, but we have gone through the modern history of our country and have never found the figure of this contract. Why?
It turned out that the Beiyang government was afraid that this treaty was also a treaty that would lose power and humiliate the country, and in order to maintain its dominance, the process of signing the contract by the Beiyang government was all carried out in private and secretly, for fear of being known by the people, and they were forced to step down by the people in anger. Because of this, very few people know about this treaty.
A year later, Duan Qirui's government was ousted by Feng Yuxiang and Lu Zhonglin. The Treaty of Svalbard was destroyed in the regime of the time. And this land thousands of miles away from China has been completely forgotten behind the minds of Chinese people, as if it had never been signed.
Feng Yuxiang
03
The "gorgeous" metamorphosis of the Svalbard Treaty
As the old saying goes, "The predecessors planted trees, and the younger generations cooled down", and no one expected that a "humiliating" treaty that was forced to sign 66 years ago would make great contributions to China's scientific expedition in the early 20th century. Why has it been able to bring such a big surprise to our country? It has even aroused the envy of many countries in the world.
In the 1980s, the scientific research in the Arctic gradually showed an international trend, and China, which experienced reform and opening up, naturally would never let go of the opportunity to catch up with the pace of world development, but the scientific expedition work in the Arctic was not very smooth. Even at this time, China already had two scientific research stations in Antarctica , the Great Wall Station and the Zhongshan Station.
Great Wall Station
Because the biggest problem that China's Arctic scientific expedition work fell into at that time was that we were not qualified to establish our own scientific research stations in the Arctic.
The reason is that we all know that although the Arctic does not belong to any country in the world, it has long been divided up by the Western powers long ago, and if we do not have the legitimate conditions to establish scientific research stations directly in the Arctic, we will undoubtedly be grabbing food. However, at present, even if China goes to the Arctic to investigate, it must apply in advance to one of the countries with Arctic scientific research powers, such as the United States and Russia. To build a scientific research station belonging to China in the Arctic is even more absurd as a pipe dream.
Just when our country was reluctantly bidding farewell to the scientific expedition in the Arctic, a turning point appeared.
In the summer of 1991, Gao Dengyi, who had two Antarctic scientific expeditions at the time, was invited by Professor Ye Xin of the University of Bergen in Norway to participate in an international Arctic scientific expedition team composed of scientists from Norway, the Soviet Union, China and Iceland. At this time, Gao Dengyi did not know what kind of surprises this trip would bring to the scientific expedition of the Chinese Arctic.
On August 5 of the same year, Gao Dengyi, who was participating in the International Scientific Expedition to the Arctic, received a small gift from Professor Ye Xin, a "Guide to the Arctic", and as he flipped through the book, he saw the original text of the Treaty of Svalbard for the first time, and in the list of many Allies, he found The figure of China.
Part of the Treaty of Svalbard (1925).
At this time, Gao Dengyi was suddenly blinded, and he felt very incredible, and an inexplicable sour feeling surged into his heart. It turned out that China was not only qualified to explore the Arctic, but could even establish a scientific research station on the Svalbard Islands in the bright light.
While transmitting the news that China is eligible to establish a research station in the Arctic, Gao Dengyi sent back to China the news that China is eligible to establish a research station in the Arctic, and at the same time asked Professor Ye Xin for advice on the precautions for China to build a station in the Arctic.
Professor Ye Xin was also very concerned about this matter, suggesting that the Chinese Association of Scientific Exploration could realize Chinese's dream of establishing a research station in the Arctic by cooperating with the University of Bergen in Norway.
Just as Gao Dengyi was running around for The establishment of a scientific research station in the Arctic by China, the domestic scientific research community was very excited by the news he brought back.
After the excitement, the relevant departments immediately made a decision:
Assist Gao Dengyi to contact the Norwegian government and establish a scientific research station belonging to China in the Arctic at an early date.
However, it is not an easy task to establish a research station in the Arctic, and it takes five years or more of scientific research experience in the Arctic to join the IASC organization, and after joining this organization, you can really get the right to establish a scientific research station in the Arctic.
Therefore, from 1991 to 1997, the Chinese Association for Scientific Exploration, with the support of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, strengthened cooperation with Norwegian scientists, and with the pleasant cooperation between China and Norway, the two countries not only made important progress in scientific research, but also the relations between the two governments were much closer.
In 2001, the Chinese Association for Scientific Exploration finally received an official letter from the Norwegian government inviting the Chinese government to visit Svalbard to establish a station.
Invitation letter from the Norwegian Embassy to the Chinese Association for Scientific Exploration to build an Arctic station (2001)
The qualification for building the station was finally obtained, but at this time, China fell into the embarrassing situation of lack of funding for the construction of the station. This difficulty did not stop the enthusiasm of Chinese scientists to build a station, and it also allowed them to find a way to combine scientific careers with enterprises and media.
After three years of hard work, the problem of funding for the establishment of a scientific research station in the Arctic was finally solved, and on July 28, 2004, the first scientific research station established by China in the Arctic, the "Yellow River Station", officially began construction. After the completion of the "Yellow River Station", it is not only the tenth scientific research station built in the Arctic region, but also China has become the 8th country in the world to have a scientific research station in the Arctic.
The establishment of the "Yellow River Station" provides a stable scientific research platform for Chinese scientists to carry out scientific research in the Arctic for a long time, and also provides extremely favorable conditions for China to solve the mysteries of some space environment exploration, space physics and many other disciplines, and also lays a solid foundation for the establishment of China's meteorological observation stations.
Just as the so-called mountains and rivers are doubtful and there is no way, Liu'an Huaming is another village. Who would have thought that the problem of turning around The difficulty of China's Arctic scientific expedition could be easily resolved by the treaty signed by the duan Qirui government in 1925. What does this mean? It shows that our long-sleeping lion in China has awakened again, and no country can stop the pace of China's progress.