The Sino-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1896

Abstract

The Treaty of Shimonoseki, ending the war between China and Japan in April 1895, gave Japan political and territorial advantages which were to play a major part in the international relations of the region in the next fifty years: a new power base from which to deal with Korea; the acquisition of Taiwan as a colony; and initially the cession of Liaotung, including Port Arthur, though this had for the time being to be abandoned as a result of the Triple Intervention. Less often remarked upon are the commercial provisions, for all that these were the starting-point for an equally significant change in Japan’s position in East Asia. The treaty gave Japan economic and legal privileges in China equivalent to those already possessed by ‘European Powers’. Since the latter’s rights were exceedingly complex — and had been subject to a constant process of interpretation and amendment since being embodied in the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858 — they were not set out at length at Shimonoseki. Instead, it was agreed that a full commercial treaty was to be concluded subsequently. The task proved a difficult one, taking until October 1896 to complete.