The open door policy was first proposed by the United States.
At the end of the 19th century, when the great powers were competing for spheres of influence in China, the United States was competing with Spain for Cuba and the Philippines, and was temporarily unable to take care of China. After the Spanish-American War, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay ordered the U.S. ministers to Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Japan, and Italy on September 6, 1899, to submit this policy note to the governments of the host countries.
The basic content is:
(1) Countries shall not interfere with any sphere of influence, treaty ports, investment undertakings in leased areas, or any vested interests acquired by other countries in China.
(2) Goods from various countries shipped to ports in various spheres of influence are levied by the Chinese government at China’s current tariff rates.
(3) Each country shall not levy a port tax higher than its own on ships from other countries entering its sphere of influence. When other countries use railways built or operated and controlled by themselves to transport goods, they shall not levy port taxes higher than their own. The shipping cost of the item.
This policy of the United States is to ensure equal opportunities and free trade for all countries on the premise of recognizing and safeguarding the special interests and vested rights of the great powers in the leased areas and spheres of influence in China, so as to make the entire Chinese market more open to the United States. Merchandise open. Since this policy recognized the vested interests of the great powers in China and that no country could monopolize China, by February 1900, all the great powers had expressed their approval. On July 3, 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion reached its climax and the Eight-Power Allied Forces were preparing to attack Beijing and Tianjin, John Hay proposed the second "Open Door" policy to the above-mentioned six countries as well as the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Spain and other countries. The main point is to "preserve China's territorial and administrative integrity" and "protect the rights of Americans throughout China" on the premise of safeguarding "all rights guaranteed by treaties and international law and safeguarding the principle of equal and fair trade among all countries in all parts of China". life and property”.
The Open Door Policy is a "milestone" in the United States' invasion of China. At the same time, it was generally welcomed by the great powers, which enabled them to achieve temporary agreement on the steps to invade China. This prevented the already very sharp conflicts between the great powers from further intensifying due to their conflicting interests in China. As a result, the great powers shifted from competing for their interests in China to cooperating with each other on this issue.
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