Unequal Treaty (不平等条約)
An unequal treaty is a category that is formed on the basis of the nature of the treaty, under which one state does not approve the enforcement of authority by another state over nationals of the former state.
Summary
The unequal treaty is often concluded in order to avoid potential unjust enforcement of authority over a person from a country where a constitution and legal codes (the Civil Code, the Commercial Code and the Criminal Code) are provided, in a country where such legal codes are not provided or maintained well, because of the absence of the provision of such legal codes.
Specifically, its objective is to 'prevent the enforcement of tariff autonomy' or 'have extraterritoriality approved' and thereby avoid a situation where a corporation or person from one country is requested to pay an enormous amount of tax when importing commodities to a country which has no constitution or legal codes, or is sentenced to death for a petty crime. Meanwhile, there are some problems such as security matters are increased, or the people can gain unreasonable profits in trade due to manipulation of tariff rates, since the people of a country standing in a favorable position under the unequal treaty cannot be put on trial in the court of a country in an unfavorable position when the people have committed a crime in the latter country.
From the 19th century to the early 20th century, powerful imperialist countries imposed on Asian countries treaties containing unequal provisions including the cession of treaty ports, approval of extraterritoriality of foreign residents, and cession or lease of territory. These provisions even included unilateral most-favored-nation treatment.
Originally, an unequal treaty was to approve extraterritoriality and other conditions in the capitulation system which was beneficially given to France, the Netherland and the United Kingdom by the Ottoman Empire, but such treaties gradually transformed into ones aiming for subordination to the Western European economic zone after the Industrial Revolution.
Japan, too, was considered a target of unequal treaties by the allied Western powers because Japan, under the feudal system, did not have various principles of a nation under the rule of law as stipulated in modern Western laws and therefore maintained torture and cruel punishment in criminal cases and regulated free contracts and transactions without giving sufficient protection in civil affairs. The Edo Shogunate was forced to conclude unequal treaties, namely, the Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and Japan and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan, which prescribed the opening of ports including Nagasaki, Shimoda, Hakodate and Yokohama, and approval of extraterritoriality of foreign residents, and therefore the revisions of the treaties were a diplomatic issue in the early Meiji period.
Meanwhile, during the Meiji period, Japan imposed unequal treaties on Korea and China, including the Treaty of Ganghwa, the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and the 'Sino-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation.'
China, too, concluded various unequal treaties with powerful countries over a long period after the defeat in the Opium Wars and fell to the position of their economic colony.
Principal unequal treaties in modern Qing Dynasty
Treaty of Nanjing, August 29, 1842, United Kingdom
Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (Humen), October 8, 1843, United Kingdom
Treaty of Wanghia, July 3, 1844, United States of America
Sino-Russian Treaty of Kuldja (Ili), August 6, 1851, Russian Empire
Regulations on British, French and American Concessions in Shanghai, July 5, 1854, United Kingdom, France, and United States of America
Treaty of Aigun, May 28, 1858, Russian Empire
Treaty of Tianjin
Treaty of Tianjin between China and Russia, June 13, 1858
Treaty of Tianjin between China and the United States, June 18, 1858
Treaty of Tianjin between China and the United Kingdom, June 26, 1858
Treaty of Tianjin between China and France, June 27, 1858
Convention of Peking
Convention of Peking between China and the United Kingdom, October 24, 1860
Convention of Peking between China and France, October 25, 1860
Convention of Peking between China and Russia, November 14, 1860
Treaty of Commerce between China and Germany, September 2, 1861, in Tianjin
Treaty of Shimonoseki, April 17, 1895, in Shimonoseki
Treaty of Leased Territory and Concession of Jiaozhou between China and Germany, March 6, 1898, in Beijing
Treaty of Lushun-Dalian Concession between China and Russia, March 27, 1898, in Beijing
Treaty of Leased Territory of Weihaiwei, July 1, 1898, United Kingdom, in Beijing
Treaty of Guangzhouwan Concession, November 16, 1899, France, in Guangzhou Bay
Beijing Protocol, September 7, 1901, United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Russian Empire, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Spain, and Netherlands
Manzhouli Border Treaty, December 20, 1911, Russia, in Manzhouli
Principal unequal treaties in modern Yi Dynasty Korea
Treaty of Ganghwa (Japan-Korea Treaty of Amity), 1876
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Korea, 1882
Treaty of Chemulpo, 1882
Principal unequal treaties in modern Japan
Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and Japan, 1854, Treaty of Kanagawa, United States
Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty, 1854, United Kingdom
Russo-Japanese Treaty of Amity, 1855, Russian Empire
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan, 1858, Ansei Five-Power Treaties, United States
Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 1858, United Kingdom
Provisional Regulations on Sakhalin, 1867, Russian Empire
Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Austria and Japan, 1869, Austria-Hungary Empire
Treaty of Saint Petersburg, 1875, Russian Empire
There is also the Treaty of Amity between France and Japan and the Treaty of Amity between the Netherland and Japan.
Principal unequal treaties in modern Nguyen Dynasty
Treaty of Saigon, June 1862, France
Second Treaty of Saigon, March 1874, France
Treaty of Hue (Harmand Treaty), 1883, France
Treaty of Hue (Patenotre Treaty), 1884, France