China -- Civilization; China -- Foreign relations; China -- Politics and government
The war ended with a qualified victory for Japan. Russia renounced all
interference in Korea, surrendered Port Arthur and Dalny (since called
Dairen) to the Japanese, and also the railway as far north as Changchun.
This part of the railway, with a few branch lines, has since then been
called the South Manchurian Railway. From Dairen to Changchun is 437
miles; Changchun is 150 miles south of Harbin. The Japanese use Dairen
as the commercial port for Manchuria, reserving Port Arthur for purely
naval purposes. In regard to Korea, Japan has conformed strictly to
Western models. During the Russo-Japanese war, the Japanese made a
treaty guaranteeing the independence and integrity of Korea; in 1910
they annexed Korea; since then they have suppressed Korean nationalists
with every imaginable severity. All this establishes their claim to be
fully the equals of the white men.
The Japanese not merely hold the South Manchurian Railway, but have a
monopoly of railway construction in South Manchuria. As this was
practically the beginning of Japan's control of large regions in China
by means of railways monopolies, it will be worth while to quote Mr.
Pooley's account of the Fa-ku-Men Railway incident,[59] which shows how
the South Manchurian monopoly was acquired:--
"In November 1907 the Chinese Government signed a contract with Messrs
Pauling and Co. for an extension of the Imperial Chinese railways
northwards from Hsin-min-Tung to Fa-ku-Men, the necessary capital for
the work being found by the British and Chinese Corporation. Japan
protested against the contract, firstly, on an alleged secret protocol
annexed to the treaty of Peking, which was alleged to have said that
'the Chinese Government shall not construct any main line in the
neighbourhood of or parallel to the South Manchurian Railway, nor any
branch line which should be prejudicial to the interests of that
railway'; and, secondly, on the Convention of 1902, between China and
Russia, that no railway should be built from Hsin-min-Tung without
Russian consent. As by the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan succeeded to the
Russian rights, the projected line could not be built without her
consent. Her diplomatic communications were exceedingly offensive in
tone, and concluded with a notification that, if she was wrong, it was
obviously only Russia who could rightfully take her to task!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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