Sino-Japanese Treaty Relations In Perspective Of International Law

On April 17th,1895, China and Japan signed the "Shimonoseki Treaty" in Chunfanlouat Shimonoseki The unequal treaty is the result of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and it is the first umequal treaty signed between China and Japan. It not only changed the fates of both China and Japan, but also broke up the traditional model of the international relations in East Asia, ie., the tributary system. After the war, Japan became a new strong country in East Asia instead of the Qing Dynasty. Even more, the treaty affected the relationship between China and Japan in the following long time up to 50 years. In the thesis, we focus on the "Shimonoseki Treaty", take modern Sino-Japanese treaties as clues, and analyze modern Sino-Japanese relations with empirical study and the help of basic theories of history, international relation, and international law. Meanwhile, taking the post-war remaining problems into consideration, the discussion about the "Shimonoseki Treaty" in the thesis is up to the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship" which was signed by China and Japan in 1978. We discuss about the historical developments and changes of Sino-Japanese relations during this long stage in the following five chapters.In chapter 1, we mainly discuss about the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in detail. Based on the modernization movements organized both in China and Japan separately in 1860s, taking the signing of the "Sino-Japanese Provisions of Cordial Relations", the "Disciplinary Action against Ryukyu", and the"Taiwan Incident" as clues, we discuss about the series of attempts taken by Japan on breaking up the traditional tributary system before Japan launched the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in detail. Only by these attempts, Japan did not get the same privileges as those of Britain, American and other western powers in China. Thus, Japan turned to snatch privileges in China by military force, instead of peaceful foreign affairs. The uprising of Dongxue Party in 1894 brought Japan the best chance to launch the war against China. Japan launched the war against China after the uprising of Dongxue Party. Japan premeditated the war for a long time. Furthermore, at that time, the combat effectiveness of Japan was much higher than that of China. In the premeditated unequal war, Japan achieved the coveted victory against China. The war is the competition between the achievements of modernization movements organized both in China and Japan separately in 1860s and it is the turning point of modern Sino-Japanese relations.In chapter 2, we mainly discuss about the signing of the "Shimonoseki Treaty" and the main content of the treaty in detail. The treaty is the result of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and it is the first unequal treaty signed between China and Japan. Firstly, we discuss about the "Sino-Japanese Peace Talks". Then, we discuss about both the process of the signing of the "Shimonoseki Treaty" and the main content of the treaty. At last, we discuss about the "Return of Liaodong Peninsula to China Intervened by the Three Countries", the "Yiwei War", installment payment for the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and the establishment of Japanese concessions. We discuss about these issues to show the actual performance to the "Shimonoseki Treaty" taken by the Qing Dynasty under the guidance of the "abidance" policy.In chapter 3, we mainly discuss about the great harm of the "Shimonoseki Treaty" to the society of China at that time. Firstly, the "Shimonoseki Treaty" broke up the traditional Huayi Order and changed the international relations in East Asia thoroughly. The "Return of Liaodong Peninsula to China Intervened by the Three Countries" led to the fanaticism of dismembering China. Furthermore, it also led to the occurrence of the "Boxer Rebellion". The Qing Dynasty became the "foreigner's imperial court" thoroughly after the signing of the Peace Treaty of 1901. Secondly, Japan filched the territory of China, snatched the consular jurisdiction of China, and grabbed the rights to establish concessions in China by the "Shimonoseki Treaty". These malefactions did great harm to the political sovereignty of China. In addition, huge payment for the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, most-favored-nation treatment, inland commercial treaties and other rights brought Japan valuable resources and huge markets for the development of Japanese modern economy, but they do great harm to the development of Chinese modern economy. Especially, since the signing of the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation", all coveted privileges of Japan had been satisfied.In chapter 4, we mainly discuss about the abolishment of the "Shimonoseki Treaty" in detail. The abolishment is discussed with the Chinese movement of abolishing unequal treaties. We also discuss about the policies of revising and abolishing unequal treaties in periods of the late Qing Dynasty, the Beijing Government, and the Nanjing National Government, respectively. Along with the improvement of international law, the late Qing Dynasty began to make attempts to revise unequal treaties. The following Beijing Government and the Nanjing National Government also made several attempts to revise unequal treaties. During the Anti-Japanese War, the "Shimonoseki Treaty" had become legally invalid in China since the declaration of war to Japan by the Nanjing National Government on December 9th,1941. On the other hand, because of the great contributions of China to the World Anti-Fascist War, China eventually came back to the international society as a big country. Britain, America and other countries realized the strategic importance of China, thus declared that they give up the extraterritoriality and other privileges in China. Finally, China achieved the grand victory of abolishing treaties.In chapter 5, we mainly discuss about the post-war remaining problems. The discussion is based on the consideration on the development of contemporary Sino-Japanese relations. Firstly, we start the discussion with the "Claiming Indemnity from Japan" and the "Taiwan Issue". Then, we discuss about the "Requite Evil with Good" policy of the Nanjing National Government to the post-war Japan. We further discuss about the post-war Taiwan policies of both Japan and America. At last, we expound the unchangeable fact that"Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory" and"Taiwan issue is China's internal affairs" again.