J The Sino-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (The Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between (日清通商航海条約)
The Sino-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation is the treaty concluded between Japan and Qing Dynasty in Beijing City on July 21, 1896. The instruments of ratification were exchanged on October 20, 1896 and the treaty came into effect on October 28 of the same year. It was valid in the Republic of China after the Chinese Revolution of 1911 (the Xinhai Revolution). The Japanese plenipotentiary was Tadasu HAYASHI. The Chinese plenipotentiary was Zhang Yinhuan.
It was concluded after the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 because the Sino-Japanese Amity Treaty was abrogated due to the war. Because of the victory of Japan in the war, the amity treaty, which was the irregular equal treaty, was changed into the unequal treaty in favor of Japan. It consists of 29 articles which were in favor of Japan, for example, the Article 9: To treat Japan the same as other western countries in commerce, the Article 22: To accept Japanese consular jurisdiction, the Article 26: The revision of the treaty can be proposed only after ten years from the exchange of the instruments of ratification, and if agreement is not reached in a half year after the term of revision started, the treaty is automatically extended for another 10 years and it cannot be revised during the period.
In addition, on the basis of the Boxer Protocol, which had been concluded after the Boxer Rebellion (the Boxer Uprising), the Sino-Japanese Additional Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, which consisted of 13 articles, was concluded in Shanghai City on October 8, 1903, and the principal articles are as follows; the Article 4: To start commercial partnership between Japanese and Chinese, the Article 5: the protection of Japanese trademark and copyright, the Article 6 and 7: The obligation to fix the standard of weights and measures, the Article 11: To support Chinese judicial reform by Japanese and the obligation to abolish extraterritoriality after the reform is completed.
After the Xinhai Revolution, the demand to abrogate the unequal treaty increased among Chinese people in the May Fourth Movement, the Beijing Government offered the revision of the treaty to Japan in October 1926 when the term of revision started, but the Nanjing Government led by Chiang Kai-shek who controlled China at that time one-sidedly notified the abrogation of the treaty on July 19, 1928, on the other hand, Japan denied the notification and declared the continuation of the treaty, however, the concern was raised in Japan that the relationship between Japan and China might deteriorate, the two countries negotiated about revision of the treaty, and finally the Sino-Japanese Tariff Agreement was concluded on May 6, 1930, and the Chinese tariff autonomy was restored. After that, when the regime of Wang Zhaoming was established during the second Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945, Japan, which defended the regime, considered the abrogation of the unequal treaty, the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and China was concluded on November 30, 1940 and the unequal treaty was formally abrogated (however, the presence of Japanese troops in China was accepted in the treaty, and the Japan-Manchukuo-China Joint Declaration which practically recognized Manchukuo was concluded at the same time, as a result, the hostility of the Chinese people toward the regime of Wang Zhaoming increased).