Unequal treaties

Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Japan was also subject to numerous unequal treaties. When the US expeditionary fleet led by Matthew Perry reached Japan in 1854 to force open the island nation for American trade, the country was compelled to sign the Convention of Kanagawa under the threat of violence by the American warships.^[11] This event abruptly terminated Japan's 220 years of seclusion under the Sakoku policy of 1633 under unilateral foreign pressure and consequentially, the convention has been seen in a similar light as an unequal treaty.^[12]

Another significant incident was the Tokugawa Shogunate's capitulation to the Harris Treaty of 1858, negotiated by the eponymous U.S. envoy Townsend Harris, which, among other concessions, established a system of extraterritoriality for foreign residents. This agreement would then serve as a model for similar treaties to be further signed by Japan with other foreign Western powers in the weeks to follow, such as the Ansei Treaties, which forcefully opened five Japanese ports, established extraterritoriality for foreigners and set fixed, low tariffs for Japan, which caused significant economic disruption and political outrage in Japan.^[13]

Unequal treaties with the United States and Europe also prevented Japan from unilaterally setting tariff rates on imported goods.^[14]: 8 As a result, it was hampered in developing domestic industries that could compete with imported goods.^[14]: 8

The enforcement of these unequal treaties were a tremendous national shock for Japan's leadership as they both curtailed Japanese sovereignty for the first time in its history and also revealed the nation's growing weakness relative to the West through the latter's successful imposition of such agreements upon the island nation. An objective towards the recovery of national status and strength would become an overarching priority for Japan, with the treaty's domestic consequences being the end of the Bakufu and its 700 years of shogunate rule over Japan in 1868, and the establishment of a new imperial government known as the Empire of Japan.^[15]

The unequal treaties ended at various times for the countries involved and Japan's victories in the 1894–95 First Sino-Japanese War convinced many in the West that unequal treaties could no longer be enforced on Japan as it was a great power in its own right. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation in 1894, negotiated by Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, was the first successful move toward eliminating extraterritoriality which was fully achieved in 1899. This view gained more recognition following the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, whereby Japan most notably defeated Russia in a massive humiliation for the latter.^[16]

More information Treaty, Year ...

Treaty			Year	Imposer	Imposed on
English name		Japanese name
Convention of Kanagawa		日米和親条約	1854[17]	United States	Tokugawa shogunate
Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty		日英和親条約	1854[18]	United Kingdom
Treaty of Shimoda		下田条約	1855	Russia
Ansei Treaties
	Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan (Harris Treaty)	安政条約	1858[19]	United States
	Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Japan			Netherlands
	Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Russian Empire and Japan			Russia
	Treaty of Amity and Commerce between British Empire and Japan			United Kingdom
	Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan			France
Prussian-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation		日普修好通商条約	1861[20]	Prussia
Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Austria and Japan		日墺修好通商航海条約	1868[21]	Austria-Hungary	Japan
Spanish-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation		日西修好通商航海条約	1868[22]	Spain
Mexican-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation		日墨修好通商航海条約	1888	Mexico
Retrocession following the Triple Intervention Convention of retrocession of the Liaodong Peninsula [ja]		遼東還付条約	1895[23]	France  Russia  Germany

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Korea's first unequal treaty was not with the West, but instead with Japan. The Ganghwa Island incident in 1875 saw Japan send the warship Un'yō led by Captain Inoue Yoshika with the implied threat of military action to coerce the Korean kingdom of Joseon through the show of force. After an armed clash ensued around Ganghwa Island where the Japanese force was sent, which resulted in its victory, the incident subsequently forced Korea to open its doors to Japan by signing the Treaty of Ganghwa Island, also known as the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876.^[24]

During this period Korea also signed treaties with Qing China and the West powers (such as the United Kingdom and the United States). In the case of Qing China, it signed the China–Korea Treaty of 1882 with Korea stipulating that Korea was a dependency of China and granted the Chinese extraterritoriality and other privileges,^[25] and in subsequent treaties China also obtained concessions in Korea, such as the Chinese concession of Incheon.^[26][27] However, Qing China lost its influence over Korea following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895.^[28]

As Japanese dominance over the Korean peninsula grew in the following decades, it imposed more unequal treaties, beginning with the 1882 Treaty of Chemulpo, which allowed Japan to station troops in Korea following the Imo Incident. with respect to the unequal treaties imposed upon the kingdom by the Western powers (1882 Shufeldt Treaty), Korea's diplomatic concessions with those states became largely null and void by 1910, when it was annexed by Japan.^[29]

More information Treaty, Year ...

Treaty		Year	Imposer	Imposed on
English name	Korean name
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 (Treaty of Ganghwa)	강화도 조약 (江華島條約)	1876[30]	Japan	Joseon dynasty
United States–Korea Treaty of 1882 (Shufeldt Treaty)[dubious – discuss]	조미수호통상조약 (朝美修好通商條約)	1882[31]	United States
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1882 (Treaty of Chemulpo)	제물포 조약 (濟物浦條約)	1882	Japan
China–Korea Treaty of 1882 (Joseon-Qing Communication and Commerce Rules)	조청상민수륙무역장정 (朝淸商民水陸貿易章程)	1882[32]	Qing dynasty
Germany–Korea Treaty of 1883	조독수호통상조약 (朝獨修好通商條約)	1883[33]	Germany
United Kingdom–Korea Treaty of 1883	조영수호통상조약 (朝英修好通商條約)	1883[34]	United Kingdom
Russia–Korea Treaty of 1884	조로수호통상조약 (朝露修好通商條約)	1884[35]	Russia
Italy–Korea Treaty of 1884	조이수호통상조약 (朝伊修好通商條約)	1884[36]	Italy
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885 (Treaty of Hanseong)	한성조약 (漢城條約)	1885[37]	Japan
France–Korea Treaty of 1886	조불수호통상조약 (朝佛修好通商條約)	1886[38]	France
Austria–Korea Treaty of 1892	조오수호통상조약 (朝奧修好通商條約)	1892[39]	Austria-Hungary
Belgium–Korea Treaty of 1901	조벨수호통상조약 (朝白修好通商條約)	1901[40]	Belgium	Korean Empire
Denmark–Korea Treaty of 1902	조덴수호통상조약 (朝丁修好通商條約)	1902[41]	Denmark
Japan–Korea Treaty of February 1904	한일의정서 (韓日議定書)	1904[42]	Japan[43]
Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1904	제1차 한일협약 (第一次韓日協約)	1904[44]	Japan[45]
Japan–Korea Agreement of April 1905	한일통신협정	1905[46]	Japan[47]
Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1905	제2차 한일의정서	1905[48]	Japan[49]
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905	제2차 한일협약 (第二次韓日協約) (을사조약 (乙巳條約))	1905[50]	Japan[51]
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907	제3차 한일협약 (第三次韓日協約) (정미조약 (丁未條約))	1907[52]	Japan
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910	한일병합조약 (韓日倂合條約)	1910[53]	Japan

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• Century of humiliation
• China Centenary Missionary Conference
• Client state
• Foreign concessions in China
• List of Chinese treaty ports
• List of treaties of China before the People's Republic
• Most favoured nation
• Normanton incident
• Puppet state
• Sick man of Asia
• Trianon syndrome
• Western imperialism in Asia

Other unequal treaties outside East Asia:

• 1855 Bowring Treaty (Thailand)
• 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay (Iran)
• Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire