Treaty of Amity between Japan and China

On July 29, 1871 (Meiji 4), Date Munenari of Japan and Li Hongzhang of China signed the first Treaty of Amity and Commerce independently concluded between Japan and China. In 1870, in order to resolve the diplomatic issue with Korea in Japan's favor, Japan sent Yanagiwara Sakimitsu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to preliminary negotiations for the conclusion of an equal treaty, and Li Hongzhang agreed to the conclusion of the treaty. The following year, Japan presented an unequal draft modeled on the Treaty of Tianjin between China and Germany, but China deleted the most-favored-nation clause and the provisions on trade rights on Chinese soil, and added provisions on territorial integrity and mutual assistance against aggression. As a result, it became an irregular equal treaty in which both countries mutually recognized consular jurisdiction and the agreed tariff rates that had been imposed on them by the great powers. As a result, some of the great powers suspected that they had made a secret pact to form an anti-Western alliance, and there was criticism within the government that they had failed to obtain the same privileges as the great powers, so the exchange of instruments of ratification was postponed until 1873. Japan continued to negotiate with China after that, seeking to revise the treaty to be the same as those of the great powers, but the negotiations were unsuccessful and ended in the First Sino-Japanese War.

[Michio Fujimura]

"History of Japanese Diplomacy" edited by Seizaburo Shinobu (1974, Mainichi Shimbun)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1871年（明治4）7月29日、日本側伊達宗城(だてむねなり)、清国側李鴻章(りこうしょう)を全権として調印された、日中両国が自主的に締結した最初の修好通商条約。日本は70年、朝鮮との国交問題を有利に解決するため、外務大丞柳原前光(だいじょうやなぎわらさきみつ)を対等条約締結の予備交渉に派遣、李鴻章から条約締結の応諾を得た。翌年日本は清独天津(てんしん)条約を模した不平等な草案を提示したが、清国は最恵国条款と清国内地の通商権規定を削り、領土保全と侵略に対する相互援助規定を付け加えた。その結果、領事裁判権と両国が列強に強制された協定関税率とを相互に認め合う変則的対等条約となった。そのため列強中には反西欧連合を密約したと疑う国もあり、政府内にも列強と同様の特権獲得に失敗したとの批判があって、批准書交換は73年に持ち越された。その後も日本は列強と同一の条約に改訂することを求めて清国と交渉を続けたが、不成功のまま日清戦争で消滅した。

［藤村道生］

『信夫清三郎編『日本外交史』（1974・毎日新聞社）』

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