POLITICS OF DELAY: BELGIUM'S TREATY NEGOTIATIONS WITH CHINA, 1926-29

Chinese nationalism of the 1920s caused Belgium's relations with China to undergo a series of adjustments, a development best revealed by a study of the Sino-Belgian treaty negotiations of 1926-29.; To advance its legitimate rights and interests overseas Belgium depended on diplomacy and the rule of law and generally followed a policy of collective action. Although sympathetic to Chinese demands for treaty revision, the Belgian government expected the great powers to set the precedent in normalizing relations with China. Failure to rally international support against denunciation of the Sino-Belgian treaty of 1865 by China in April 1926 forced Belgium to take an independent stand throughout the ensuing diplomatic crisis.; From the start Belgium was determined to obtain interim measures which assured a status favorable to that of other treaty powers in China. During the first stage of the Sino-Belgian treaty negotiations, from April to November 1926, the two nations were unable to work out agreement on terms of a modus vivendi. Frustrated by China's termination of the treaty of 1865 on 27 October 1926, Belgium appealed to the International Court at The Hague for legal protection based on the 1865 treaty. In the order of 8 January 1927, however, the Court favored the Chinese modern courts over prolongation of extraterritorial privileges. Shortly afterwards, China offered a modified set of conditions which Belgium promptly accepted in return for holding the case at The Hague in abeyance for the duration of the negotiations.; According to Belgian policy, the precedent in relinquishing the privileges of the "unequal treaties" should eventually be set by the great powers. In the negotiations from January 1927 to mid-1928 Brussels deliberately paced the speed of the discussions to the fortunes of the Peking regime, maintaining all the while unofficial relations with the Nationalists to keep them informed of developments. Before serious negotiations with the newly re-organized National government in Nanking got under way in October 1928, Belgium had raised the obstacle of premature recognition and tried to put off examination of the draft treaty proposed by Nanking that August. The preliminary treaty concluded between China and the Economic Union of Belgium and Luxembourg on 22 November 1928 stipulated immediate customs equality and arranged for the abolishment of extraterritoriality, a victory for China. The attached letters and declarations assured Belgian rights until the time of general settlement of these questions. To protect the mutual advantages obtained an early exchange of ratifications was made on 28 February 1929. The formal exchange took place on the following 16 May.; Deserted by its allies, Belgium used the means available to a small power to defend its position in China. Brussels engaged in the politics of delay, a series of diplomatic and legal maneuvers to gain time until favorable conditions existed for conclusion of a definitive treaty with China. A model for other small-power treaties of that period with China, the preliminary treaty of 1928 was an instrument of transition to greater equality and cooperation in Sino-Belgian relations.