The unequal treaties were a series of agreements made between East Asian countries—most notably Qing China, Tokugawa Japan (in the 1850s) and Joseon Korea—and imperial powers—most notably the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Empire of Japan (starting in the late 1870s), Italy, Portugal, the United States and Russia—during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were often signed following a military defeat suffered by the Asian party, or amid military threats made by the Western powers. The terms specified obligations to be borne almost exclusively by the Asian party and included provisions such as the cession of territory, payment of reparations, opening of treaty ports, relinquishment of the right to control tariffs and imports, and granting of extraterritoriality to foreign citizens.
With the rise of Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism in the 1920s, both the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used the concept to characterize the Chinese experience of losing sovereignty between roughly 1840 to 1950. The term "unequal treaty" became associated with the concept of China's "century of humiliation", especially the concessions to foreign powers and the loss of tariff autonomy through treaty ports, and continues to serve as a major impetus for the foreign policy of China today.
Japan and Korea also use the term to refer to several treaties that resulted in a reduction of their national sovereignty. Japan and China signed treaties with Korea such as the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 and China–Korea Treaty of 1882, with each granting privileges to the former parties concerning Korea. Japan after the Meiji Restoration also began enforcing unequal treaties against China after its victory in the First Sino-Japanese War for influence over Korea as well as China's coastal ports and territories.
China
TreatyYearImposerImposed on English name Chinese name Treaty of Nanking 1842 Treaty of the Bogue 1843 Treaty of Wanghia 1844 Treaty of Whampoa 1844 France Treaty of Canton 1847 Sweden-Norway Treaty of Kulja 1851 Treaty of Aigun 1858 Treaty of Tientsin (1858) 1858 France Convention of Peking 1860 France Treaty of Tientsin (1861) 1861 , also for Deutscher Zollverein Chefoo Convention 1876 Treaty of Livadia 1879 Treaty of Saint Petersburg 1881 Treaty of Tientsin (1885) 1885 France Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking 1887 Treaty of Shimonoseki (Treaty of Maguan) 1895 Li–Lobanov Treaty 1896 Convention for the Lease of the Liaotung Peninsula 1898 Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory 1898 1899 France Boxer Protocol 1901 France Austria-Hungary Sino-Swedish Treaty of 1908 中瑞通商條約 1908 Simla Convention 1914 Twenty-One Demands 1915 Sino-Japanese Joint Defence Agreement 1918 Tanggu Truce 1933
Japan Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Japan was also subject to numerous unequal treaties. When the US expeditionary fleet led by Matthew Perry reached Japan in 1854 to force open the island nation for American trade, the country was compelled to sign the Convention of Kanagawa under the threat of violence by the American warships. This event abruptly terminated Japan's 220 years of seclusion under the Sakoku policy of 1633 under unilateral foreign pressure and consequentially, the convention has been seen in a similar light as an unequal treaty.
Another significant incident was the Tokugawa Shogunate's capitulation to the Harris Treaty of 1858, negotiated by the eponymous U.S. envoy Townsend Harris, which, among other concessions, established a system of extraterritoriality for foreign residents. This agreement would then serve as a model for similar treaties to be further signed by Japan with other foreign Western powers in the weeks to follow, such as the Ansei Treaties, which forcefully opened five Japanese ports, established extraterritoriality for foreigners and set fixed, low tariffs for Japan, which caused significant economic disruption and political outrage in Japan.
Unequal treaties with the United States and Europe also prevented Japan from unilaterally setting tariff rates on imported goods. As a result, it was hampered in developing domestic industries that could compete with imported goods.
The enforcement of these unequal treaties were a tremendous national shock for Japan's leadership as they both curtailed Japanese sovereignty for the first time in its history and also revealed the nation's growing weakness relative to the West through the latter's successful imposition of such agreements upon the island nation. An objective towards the recovery of national status and strength would become an overarching priority for Japan, with the treaty's domestic consequences being the end of the Bakufu and its 700 years of shogunate rule over Japan in 1868, and the establishment of a new imperial government known as the Empire of Japan.Totman, Conrad (1966). "Political Succession in The Tokugawa Bakufu: Abe Masahiro's Rise to Power, 1843–1845". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 26: 102–124. doi:10.2307/2718461. JSTOR 2718461.
The unequal treaties ended at various times for the countries involved and Japan's victories in the 1894–95 First Sino-Japanese War convinced many in the West that unequal treaties could no longer be enforced on Japan as it was a great power in its own right. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation in 1894, negotiated by Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, was the first successful move toward eliminating extraterritoriality which was fully achieved in 1899. This view gained more recognition following the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, whereby Japan most notably defeated Russia in a massive humiliation for the latter.
TreatyYearImposerImposed on English name Japanese name Convention of Kanagawa 1854Auslin, Michael R. (2004) Tokugawa shogunate Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty 1854Auslin, Treaty of Shimoda 1855 Ansei Treaties 1858Auslin, France Prussian-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation 1861Auslin, Prussia Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Austria and Japan 1868Auslin, Michael R. (2004) Austria-Hungary Spanish-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation 1868 Retrocession following the Triple Intervention 1895 FranceSecurity Treaty between the United States and Japan日本国とアメリカ合衆国との間の安全保障条約1951
Korea Korea's first unequal treaty was not with the West, but instead with Japan. The Ganghwa Island incident in 1875 saw Japan send the warship Un'yō led by Captain Inoue Yoshika with the implied threat of military action to coerce the Korean kingdom of Joseon through the show of force. After an armed clash ensued around Ganghwa Island where the Japanese force was sent, which resulted in its victory, the incident subsequently forced Korea to open its doors to Japan by signing the Treaty of Ganghwa Island, also known as the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876.Preston, Peter Wallace. (1998). Blackwell Publishing. Pacific Asia in the Global System: An Introduction.
During this period Korea also signed treaties with Qing China and the West powers (such as the United Kingdom and the United States). In the case of Qing China, it signed the China–Korea Treaty of 1882 with Korea stipulating that Korea was a dependency of China and granted the Chinese extraterritoriality and other privileges, and in subsequent treaties China also obtained concessions in Korea, such as the Chinese concession of Incheon. However, Qing China lost its influence over Korea following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895.
As Japanese dominance over the Korean peninsula grew in the following decades, it imposed more unequal treaties, beginning with the 1882 Treaty of Chemulpo, which allowed Japan to station troops in Korea following the Imo Incident. with respect to the unequal treaties imposed upon the kingdom by the Western powers (1882 Shufeldt Treaty), Korea's diplomatic concessions with those states became largely null and void by 1910, when it was annexed by Japan.I. H. Nish, "Japan Reverses the Unequal Treaties: The Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894," Journal of Oriental Studies (1975) 13#2 pp 137-146.