Twenty-One Demands

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For other meanings, see 21 demands of MKS.

The Twenty-One Demands (対華二十一ヵ条要球, Taika Nijyuichikkajo Yokyu^?) were a set of demands which the Japanese government of Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu sent to the Chinese government on 18 January 1915, resulting in two treaties with Japan on 25 May 1915.

1 Japanese expansionism in China
2 Initial Negotiations
3 The Japanese Ultimatum
4 Results
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Japanese expansionism in China

Japan had gained a large sphere of interest in northern China and Manchuria through its victories in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, and had thus joined the ranks of the European imperialist powers in their scramble to establish political and economic domination over China. With the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, and the establishment of the new Republic of China under Yuan Shikai, Japan saw an opportunity to expand its position in China.

Although China was nominally on the side of the Allies in World War I, the Japanese demanded the German spheres of influence in China, and also wanted special economic rights for the Japanese occupants living in parts of China (Spence 1999, 281).*

[edit] Initial Negotiations

Japan, under Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu and Foreign Minister Kato Takaaki, drafted the initial list of Twenty-One Demands, which were reviewed by the genro and the Emperor, and approved by the Diet. This list was presented to President Yuan Shikai on 18 January 1915, with warnings of dire consequences if China were to reject.

The Twenty One Demands were grouped into five groups:

Group 1 confirmed Japan’s recent acquisitions in Shandong Province, and expanded Japan’s sphere of influence over the railways, coasts and major cities of the province.

Group 2 pertained to Japan’s sphere of influence in southern Manchuria and along the South Manchurian railway, with rights of settlement and extraterritoriality.

Group 3 gave Japan control of the Hanyeping mining and metallurgical complex, already deep in debt to Japan.

Group 4 barred China from giving any further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers except for Japan.

Group 5 contained a miscellaneous set of demands, ranging from Japanese advisors appointed to the Chinese central government and to administer the Chinese police force (which would severely intrude on Chinese sovereignty) to allowing Japanese Buddhist preachers to conduct missionary activities in China.

The full text of the Twenty One Demands can be found on Wikicommons.

Knowing the negative reaction Group 5 would cause, Japan initially tried to keep its contents secret. The Chinese government attempted to stall for as long as possible and leaked the full contents of the Twenty-One Demands to the European powers in hopes that a perceived threat to their own political/economic spheres of interest would help contain Japan.

[edit] The Japanese Ultimatum

After China rejected Japan's revised proposal on April 26, the genro intervened and deleted ‘Group 5’ from the document, as these had proved to be the most objectionable to the Chinese government. The reduced ’Thirteen Demands’ was transmitted on May 7 in the form of an ultimatum, with a two-day deadline for response. President Yuan Shikai accepted, and the final form of the treaty was signed by both parties on 25 May 1915.

[edit] Results

In retrospect, the results of the revised final (Thirteen Demands) version of the Twenty-One Demands were far more negative for Japan than positive, and it is hard to comprehend what the Japanese government was attempting to obtain. Without Clause 5, the new treaty did not give Japan anything that it did not already have in China.

On the other hand, the United States expressed strongly negative reactions to Japan’s rejection of the Open Door Policy. Japan's closest ally at that time , Great Britain also expressed concern over what was perceived as Japan's overbearing, bullying approach to diplomacy, and the British Foreign Office in particular was unhappy with Japanese attempts to establish what would effectively be a protectorate over all of China.

In China, the overall political impact of Japan’s actions was positive, but British influence and propaganda created a considerable amount of public ill-will towards Japan, resulting in the May Fourth Movement, a severe boycott movement of Japanese products.

[edit] References

Spence, Jonathan D. "The New Republic." In "The Search for Modern China". 281. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999
http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/21demands.htm