of the Northern Government's diplomacy really failed?

01. Hidden details

talked about the fuse of the May 4th Movement, which was due to the failure ofChinese diplomacy at the Paris peace conference. If you ask why diplomacyfailed, it is unavoidable to blame the dark rule of the Beiyang government, thewarlord war, the dependence on imperialism, the betrayal of state sovereignty,and so on. Throughout the period of the Beiyang Government, it has alwaysbeen difficult to get rid of the negative image of "weak countries withoutdiplomacy" or even traitors.

In fact, due to China's long-term internal and external troubles, patriotismand nationalism continue to rise, leading to the history of diplomacy at theforefront of patriotism education, too much emphasis on the aggression offoreign powers and China's resistance. Cover up is even ignored and distorted.

("Notification" about diplomatic failure)

In fact, long before the Paris peace conference, the Beijing governmentconsciously made active preparations to abolish unequal treaties and restoresovereignty. On March 14, 1917, the Beijing government announced that itwould sever diplomatic relations with Germany and revoke some German privilegesunder unequal treaties, such as garrison rights, concessions, and compensationin China. On August 14, the Beijing government declared war on Germany andAustria and abolished all previous treaties between China, Germany and Austria.

As a result, the Beijing government took World War I as an opportunity to opena gap in the unequal treaty chain between China and Western powers, strivingfor independence, autonomy and equality, paving the way for a series of futurediplomatic activities.

02. Paris Peace Conference

In January 1919, the Paris Peace Conference was held. On the one hand, theBeijing government is actively preparing to attend the meeting, and sent afive-member delegation to the meeting. Among them, He Lu is a world-classprofessional diplomat. On the other hand, it focuses on the study of theinternational situation, establishes the principle of participation, andformulates corresponding strategies. At the time, the Beijing governmentset out four tasks for the delegation, including eliminating foreigners' rightsin China, such as consular jurisdiction and negotiating tariffs.

(Lu Yaoxiang)

(The Chinese delegation met with Churchill during the

Paris peace conference.) The Paris peace conference failedto achieve China's goal of amending the treaty, and China's diplomacy suffereda major setback. The theory of the Paris Peace Conference's failure inChinese diplomacy has been finalized for nearly a century. However, if youlook closely, you will find that some diplomatic achievements still exist. OnSeptember 15, 1919, China and Austria signed a peace treaty, ending hostilitieswith Austria and restoring Austria's privileges in China. Later, it signedpeace treaties with Bulgaria and Hungary. In addition, China became afounding member of the League of Nations.

Participating in a peace conference, joining the League of Nations, andparticipating in the establishment of a new international order demonstratesthat China has entered the international system and has been accepted by theinternational community. At the peace conference, China announced to theworld for the first time the diplomatic requirements for amending thetreaty. This meeting also became a turning point in the rise of China'smodern diplomacy. In this way, a new type of Chinese diplomat with a spiritof resistance entered the diplomatic arena, and the active diplomacy of thelate Beijing government can be said to have begun.

(China League of Nations Delegation)

03. Washington Conference

At the Washington conference held two years later, the Beijing government againproposed to amend the inequality treaty to make equality with all countries acondition for participating in the Washington conference, and at the same timestated three points: "(1) Countries will no longer use China's civil disturbancedamage The rights of China as an independent country; (2) to revoke all actsthat undermine China's sovereignty without a treaty basis; (3) to modify someexisting treaties that restrict China's freedom of movement ".

The big powers can no longer avoid the China issue and have to spend a lot oftime discussing it. They finally adopted a series of treaties on Chinarepresented by the "Nine Nations Convention." Article 1 of theNine Nations Convention clearly states that all countries must "respectChina's sovereignty and independence and its territorial and administrativeintegrity." The participating countries finally agreed to cancel theforeign post office in China and modify the tariffs imposed on Chinese imports.At the

end of the Beiyang Government, the Beijing government continued to makeunremitting efforts to abolish consular jurisdiction, realize tariff autonomy,and launch a constitutional amendment campaign, and achieved certainresults. For example, in June 1925, the Beijing government took the May30th Movement as an opportunity to issue a note to countries asking foramendments to the unequal treaties. In October, it signed the Nine NationsConvention with Finland, abolished the right to consular jurisdiction andtariff agreements, and urged Belgium to return to the Tianjin concession whennegotiating a treaty with Belgium to amend the treaty. A special tariffconference was held to force countries to recognize China's tariff autonomy.

The Beijing government also withdrew the Shanghai Mixed Court in August 1926. Aseries of diplomatic actions by the Beijing government left a rich legacy forfuture generations. After the end of the Northern Expedition, the NanjingNational Government clearly inherited the policies of the Beiyang Governmentand the results of revising the new treaty. Some scholars say that China'sabolition of the treaty "is the result of continuous efforts bygenerations and governments, including not only the government of the People'sRepublic of China to achieve its ultimate goal, but also the Nanjing NationalGovernment, which has always called itself the Revolutionary Party, and is morecompromised the Beijing government "

from this perspective, the government's Northern summarized as diplomaticfailure and even humiliation, is clearly not fair, nor consistent withhistorical facts. If we can start with the domestic and foreignenvironmental and historical data archives at that time, we may get a moreobjective and true conclusion.

Special statement: The above content (such as pictures or videos) is uploadedand posted by users of the media platform "NetEase". NetEase onlyprovides information storage services.