CHAPER VII

GERMANY AND THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA

AFTER the Monroe Doctrine perhaps the most conspicuous feature of the foreign policy of the United States is that of the principle of the "open door" to commerce in the Chinese Empire. It is important, therefore, in studying the relations between Germany and the United States to consider the policy of the German Government toward this principle so repeatedly enunciated and acted upon by the American Government.

Though no new idea, the principle received its first specific and expressed application as an American policy in China during the year 1899, and because of his earnest efforts in its behalf, has been associated with the name of the American Secretary of State John Hay. The immediate events giving rise to Secretary Hay's first approach to the European powers on this question were the acquisition by Germany, Russia, England and France of Chinese harbors' and the division of China by those powers into "spheres of interest" for their commercial enterprises.2

German acquisitions in China began with the seizure in 1897 of the harbor of Kiao-Chao on the ground of the murder by Chinese of two German missionaries. The diplomacy connected with the event, however, extended back to the close of the Chino-Japanese war in 1895, when Germany, France and Russia had intervened in favor of China and had forced the victorious Japanese to give

1 F. R. 1898, pp. 182 to 191. During the year 1897 to 1898, Germany acquired the harbor of Kiao-Chao, Russia acquired Port Arthur and Talienwan, Great Britain acquired Wei-hai-wei and extensions to her possessions in Hong-Kong, and France acquired Kwangchau Bay in the Province of Kwangtung. See also, A. & P. '98, CV (C-8814), Nos. 95, 133 and 141, 144 and A. & P. '99, CIX (91317), No. 17. Japan also obtained a small concession at Amoy. F. R. 1899, pp. 150 to 153.

F. R. 1899, pp. 129 ff.

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up possession of the Liao-tung Peninsula. For this act it was tacitly understood by these powers-and realized by China-that some tangible compensation was expected.' The German Secretary of the Foreign Office had declared that there was no connection between the intervention in 1895 and the acquisition of KiaoChao. This was contradicted, however, in the Reichstag by Dr. Richter (Liberal People's Party) and by Dr. Hasse (National Liberal), who, as spokesmen of their parties, declared the cession of Kiao-Chao to be a reward for the former intervention against Japan. Conclusive evidence of this is seen in the report of the Chinese officials (Tsungli Yamen) concerning their negotiations with German minister, Baron Heyking, who give as among the grounds set forth by Germany for her demands the fact of her assistance to China in securing the evacuation of the Liao-tung Peninsula by the Japanese."

There was little attempt by the German Government to conceal the fact that the event of the murder of the two German missionaries was merely chosen as a fitting occasion to secure that which it had become a part of deliberate German policy to secure, namely, a foothold in China, or, in the famous words of Secretary von Buelow, a "place in the sun." The secretary declared that the

3 A. & P. '98, CV (C-8814), No. 114. Count Mouravieff said to Sir N. O'Conor that Russia considered that China owed her the ports of Talienwan and Port Arthur in return for her services to China during the war with Japan.

V. R. 1897-1898, Bd. II, 35 Sitz., 8. Februar, '98, S: 893, B. and S. 909, A. Dr. Hasse stated that he and his friends had been waiting for years to see in what way Germany would be recompensed for her action at that time (1895). It was therefore no longer a secret (as it had to be for years) that Germany wanted to have a reward for placing herself on the side of China.

F. R., 1898, p. 189.

♦ V. R., 1897-'98, Bd. I, 4 Sitz., 6. Dezember, 1897, S. 60 (translation by author).

"The time when the German left to one of his neighbors the earth and to the other the sea and reserved for himself the sky where pure theory reigns (amusement! Bravo!)-that time is past. We consider it as one of our most distinguished tasks to advance (foerdern) and to take care of (pflegen) the interest of our navigation, our commerce and our industry in Eastern Asia:

The sending of our squadron to the bay of Kiao-Chao and the occupation of this bay was done partly to secure full amends for the murder of German Catholic missionaries, partly to obtain greater security than heretofore against the repetition of such events.

We must insist that the German missionary and German enterprise, German

sending of the squadron to Kiao-Chao was not an improvisation;" on the contrary, that it was the product of the full weighing of all contingencies and was the expression of a calm policy conscious of its goal. For the future, von Buelow declared Germany would proceed without undue haste, but also without petty narrowness, steadily, deliberately, step by step, not as conquest seekers, also not as calculators, but rather as efficient and wise merchants who, like the Maccabees of old, hold in one hand a weapon but in the other a trowel and a spade.

This deliberate expansion policy of the German Government, with its complete ignoring of the rights of China in the case, did not escape unchallenged in Germany. The radical elements of the Reichstag attacked it with vigor and courage. Mr. Bebel,"

goods, the German flag and the German ship in China be respected just like those of other powers. (Hearty bravo!) Finally we are gladly ready to take into account the interests of other great powers in East Asia, in the secure foresight that our own interests will also find their due appreciation. (Bravo!) In a word: we wish to place no one in the shade, but we too demand our place in the sun."

V. R., 1897-'98, Bd. II, 35 Sitz., 8. Februar, 1898, S. 895 A. Also A. & P. CV (C. 8814), No. 74.

V. R., 1897-'98, Bd. II, 35 Sitz., 8. Februar, 1898, S. 899. See also vehement speech against the Government expansion policy by Liebknecht (Social Democrat), V. R., '97-'98, Bd. III, 76 Sitz., 27. April, '98, S. 1981. Liebknecht (translation by author).

. .

"I have noticed that there is no inclination to discuss in detail the supplementary budget nor to examine closely the general policy. But I cannot comply with this desire. I perceive in the part of the supplementary budget, so far as it pertains to Kiao-Chao, the beginning of a policy which can only become fatal to Germany. Kiao-Chiao itself is an extraordinarily unimportant thing of little intrinsic value. By means of remarkable advertising the imagination of the German people has been kindled for this corner of the earth and there are actually many people in Germany who imagine that we have in Kiao-Chao something wonderful.

Let us recall how we came to Kiao-Chao at all; and here we must touch on a point which must make every German blush before the foreign world (den Ausland). Who had thought of Kiao-Chao a half year ago? Who, a year and a half or two years ago, had thought that Germany must have a fleet large enough to rival France, Russia, if not even England, as a sea-power? No one among the people had thought of it and here in the Reichstag itself only a few had thought of it; those who timidly came forward with the thought were in a disappearing minority. Suddenly a complete reversal! Was it, as has just been stated here, a reversal within the German people? Truly not. The German people whom we know does not bother itself about Kiao-Chao and this colonial policy and fleet policy in the least. It rejects them.

What is to be made out of this piece of territory? Without the hinterland it is absolutely worthless. And what was the role which Germany played

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Social Democrat, compared the descent of the German squadron on Kiao-Chao to the Jameson raid on the Transvaal which Germany had so condemned and which had called forth the Kaiser's telegram of sympathy to the Boer President. He then stated that there would have been nothing to be wondered at if some third nation had at this time sent a similar telegram of sympathy to the government of China. The German troops had no right on Chinese soil, and if the Chinese had forcibly ejected them they would have had good right to do so. That the murder of the missionaries was only a mere excuse in order to be able to break into China, no one doubted any longer. Such protests as this, however, were confined chiefly to the radical groups, among whom opposition to colonization had become practically a part of the party program and had little effect on the government policy.

The treaty governing the transfer of Kiao-Chao to Germany leased to that country for ninety-nine years the bay and islands of Kiao-Chao and the land projections on each side of the harbor entrance. Over all this Germany should have not only administrative but also sovereign rights for the period of the lease. In addition, it was agreed that within a zone of fifty kilometers around the bay, China was to permit German troops to march through the territory at any time and was not to take any measures or issue any ordinances without the consent of the German Government.

there? First it was said: it is a lease; then it was said in all German newspapers, it is a lease only in form but a lease in perpetuity, we will never give up the land. Therefore it was a conquest in the midst of peace.

This robbery or colonial policy does not help the people in the least; on the contrary it injures them. Price Bismarck, as obedient servant of the capitalist class, which granted him in return important and substantial rewards, tried it first with Samoa, then in Africa. And what happened then, and is still going on, does not redound to the honor of the German name and has brought only harm to the German people. Now we are trying it with China. And here the fiasco will be still greater.

In China we had the choice between the English policy, of cultivating China and furthering its development by economic methods, by establishing commercial connections, etc., and the Russian policy which leads to the splitting up of China. We have decided on the Russian policy and our government has preeminently militaristic and naval purposes in view.

Against the whole present policy, especially against the whole colonial policy, against the whole fleet craze (Flottenschwindel)-I can use no other expression (great disturbance, lively interruptions) we protest: during the election-battle and after it we will speak!"

• V. R., 1897-'98, Anlagen Vol. III, No. 262.

Nevertheless, it was stated that China retained all her sovereign rights in this zone. It is further illustrative of the aggressive character of the treaty that provision was made that in case Germany, before the expiration of the lease, should desire to withdraw from Kiao-Chao, China would grant her some other place better suited to her purposes and in addition would recompense Germany for the expenditures made up to that time in developing the port. Though shedding much light on the expansion system of Germany,10 the treaty bears on the policy of the "open door" only in this respect that it guarantees to China in the leased territory equal rights of commerce and navigation with the merchants and vessels of other nations. Germany retains, however, the right to decide at any time what those privileges of other nations shall be. That is, as far as the treaty stipulated, Germany was free to make Kiao-Chao an open or a closed port. She declared it a free port, aided the Chinese Government in the establishment of a customs house there, and gave assurances to the American Ambas

10 A. & P. '99, CIX (C-9131), No. 62 (Inclosure). Following the taking of Kiao-Chao, Germany reasserted her power and interest in the Orient by sending Prince Henry with a squadron on a tour of the Orient which should include a personal visit to the Emperor of China. The visit was of such importance that the details of it were arranged by formal agreement. Lascelles to Salisbury, Extract from ‘Reichsanzeiger' of Apr. 25, 1898 (translation).

BERLIN, April 27, 1898.

"His Royal Highness Prince Henry will, in the course of his travels in Eastern Asia, pay a visit to His Majesty the Emperor of China at Peking. With regard to the ceremonial to be observed on this occasion, a detailed agreement has been arrived at between the Imperial German Minister at Peking and the Imperial Chinese Government; which, according to telegraphic information, has received the assent of His Majesty the Emperor of China. According to the terms of this agreement, His Royal Highness Prince Henry will be received on his arrival at the Peking railway station by the Tsung-liYamen and the Imperial Princes and will be conducted to the Imperial German Legation. On the following day His Royal Highness will pay a visit to the Emperor in His Majesty's summer residence of Wan-show-shan. His Majesty will rise to receive him, and His Royal Highness will sit down in the seat of honor by His Majesty's side. Immediately after this visit the Emperor will pay His Royal Highness his return visit, which His Royal Highness will await in a building within the gardens of Wan-show-shan, which is to be placed at the Prince's disposal as a temporary residence. Her Imperial Majesty, the ex-Regent, has also spontaneously expressed the wish to receive His Royal Highness and has commanded that the Prince be shown all those portions of the Palace which Europeans have hitherto been forbidden to enter."