young marshal spring and autumn

Negotiations are on the table, but games are off the court.The British saw that they could not put pressure on the Chinese government economically, but instead seriously damaged their own interests, causing their influence in China to be driven away.As a last resort, under the mediation of the United States, China and Britain held a second negotiation on October 10.

In fact, for the Sino-British negotiations, the delegation headed by Zhang Hanqing did not ask for much benefit-under the general situation, it is not in China's fundamental interests to offend the British and American forces too early. It is just a gesture under the current situation of the domestic nationalist movement.Zhang Hanqing's reluctance to make a big move on this matter is actually after careful consideration: it is impossible to completely recover all the concessions at this stage, and there is a game of national power here.For the UK, ensuring its interests in China is a major issue that affects its global colonial leadership. It is easy to force the British forces out of mainland China, but the difficulty is how to face the UK's full-scale counterattack----for the UK In any case, it cannot remain indifferent in the face of the possible domino effect of the collapse of its colonial system. In any case, it is bound to give it a go. This is not the situation Zhang Hanqing wants.In addition, China has not done a good job at this stage in how to resist the inevitable result of the power vacuum that Japan took the opportunity to occupy the British left.

On the contrary, keeping the British power in China has great benefits at this stage: the presence of Britain and the United States in East China and South China greatly restricts Japan's direct use of military power to encroach on the eastern and southern parts of China. Objectively, it temporarily guaranteed the security of most of China's coastal areas, buying time for China's later comprehensive construction.In North China, Japan's power is still very small - since Japan was forced to withdraw from Jiaodong, only the Japanese Concession in Tianjin is still under its control in North China.

But Zhang Hanqing must also give China dignity on the table at least: in a poor and weak China, there is nothing that can excite the Chinese people more than winning foreign negotiations.Whether or not the Chinese people can hold their heads high at the negotiating table this time will also test the prestige of the People's Party and Zhang Hanqing, especially now that the people of the country have consciously realized national sovereignty and independence, and the abolition of all unequal treaties and concessions Clarify perspective and goals.

So the best outcome is that the Chinese people get dignity, and the British government gets respect at the same time.

Regarding the principle of handling the "May [-]th Incident" requested by the negotiating team, Zhang Hanqing made it clear after careful consideration: "This incident must be resolved satisfactorily, and the following are the necessary conditions:

The Chinese victims must be compensated; the UK must apologize for this incident and ensure that similar incidents will not happen again; the interests and future of all Chinese strikers will not be hindered during the strike.The above three conditions are the bottom line and cannot be questioned or discussed at all. This is related to national feelings and the prestige of the central government.

Then, all the British concessions except Tianjin and Shanghai must be taken back unconditionally; for the British concessions in Tianjin and Shanghai, there may be reservations at this stage. Fang's dignity is the condition; as an end to the incident, the relevant perpetrators must be punished by Chinese law, and on this basis, the consular jurisdiction should be withdrawn. "

The British delegation, which was under increasing pressure, had no objection to Articles 1, 2, and 3 in principle, but refused to budge on the key items 4, 5, and 6, and the negotiations fell into a stalemate for a while.There are rumors that a huge British Far East Fleet has weighed anchor and sailed out of its home port, which suddenly made the British negotiators more arrogant and added many variables to the negotiations.

However, Zhang Hanqing is confident: the impact of the people that the People's Party has mobilized on the British power in China is comprehensive and huge: only in Shanghai, in just one and a half months, the British financial circles have lost at least 2 million yuan, its position in the Yangtze River area is in danger of being completely overturned.After thinking about it, the British government will definitely throw away the pawn--because Zhang Hanqing privately sent an extremely subtle signal to the top of the British government through the US ambassador to China--if this incident cannot be resolved as soon as possible, the Chinese government will not be able to guide its emotions to become more and more serious. The rising Chinese people cannot guarantee the current status of Hong Kong.

As an important material distribution center and trade center of the British Empire in East Asia, Hong Kong was far more important than Shanghai in the Commonwealth, especially in East Asia.Zhang Hanqing solemnly stated that once the negotiation turns into an armed conflict, China will not hesitate to launch a full-scale escalation of the war, thoroughly mobilize the people, and regain all the British-occupied territories, including Hong Kong.He specifically emphasized the People's Army Army with millions of troops, which meant nothing.

The basic national policy of the United Kingdom after World War I was to maintain a balance in Europe, not to take the initiative to get into conflicts in the European continent, and to shrink in Asia.Under such circumstances, it is absolutely impossible for her to go across the ocean to fight endless tug-of-war with a new big country like the Opium War, which is not allowed by her current national strength.As the traditional sphere of influence of the United Kingdom - the Yangtze River Basin was preserved under the hint of Zhang Hanqing, China did not seek to obtain any substantial benefits, and the United Kingdom did not lose any substantial interests.

Under such circumstances, the United Kingdom issued the "Christmas Memorandum" and agreed to return the British concessions in Hankou, Jiujiang, Xiamen, and Zhenjiang, trying to ensure the main interests in China by giving up the secondary interests. The six requirements mentioned.From the British point of view, these concessions are either because they are inland and away from the protection of British forces, or there is no need to own them again at this stage.For example, although the Xiamen Concession is near the sea, it has only 24 acres and basically has no "future" for development. During the parade that year, the masses forcibly entered and was forced to give up administrative management rights. This is also the first time that Xiamen was returned to Britain. The reason for the concession; Zhenjiang was opened to traffic in 1906, and the goods entering and leaving Henan were diverted to Hankou. In 1911, the Jinpu Railway opened to traffic, and goods from Shandong and Anhui were also directly transported to Shanghai and Qingdao. Nanjing replaced Zhenjiang as the hub of north-south transportation.At the same time, the Yangtze River changed its direction and the port of Zhenjiang was seriously silted up. Merchants from other provinces moved away one after another, and the rice market also moved to Wuhu and Wuxi.Zhenjiang's trade status declined sharply, and the British Concession in Zhenjiang also declined rapidly, leading to a financial crisis.Hankou and Jiujiang lost their management rights because they were beyond their reach, and the British management personnel in the two places were expelled from the country.Therefore, the British side did not have much stalemate about this, and took a decisive action, thus withdrawing troops from the negotiating table decently.

The United Kingdom cannot let go of Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou, which are crucial to it.Zhang Hanqing knew that this was the bottom line of Britain in China, and that it could not fight on two fronts at China's weak gateway.Since the trial dispute of the "May [-]th Massacre" was going on at the same time, in order to ensure that the British government would mitigate the incident and fulfill the wish of the Chinese government, it was agreed to retain the above-mentioned British concession.This decision also took into account that in the process of dealing with Japan, the existence of British and American forces is also an important restrictive factor, so it instructed the People's Party to guide the people to transfer the firepower of the struggle, "turn grief into strength, and actively participate in the construction of industrialization and modern transportation. In the great battle with agricultural modernization".

These six items still did not harm most of Britain's interests in Shanghai and even in China. The government of the Republic of China did not even have the idea of ​​canceling the British concessions in Shanghai and Tianjin.In this regard, shrewd Americans sensed Zhang Zuolin's government's willingness to resolve this incident very early on.Even so, after all, it was China's first major breakthrough in foreign negotiations in modern times, and the whole country congratulated, and the ruling status of the People's Party was once again recognized and guaranteed. Zhang Hanqing became the first national leader to win foreign negotiations in modern Chinese history. The status in the hearts of the people has also been improved.