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Concessions and leases in international relations

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Further information: International zone § Concessions

In international relations, a concession is a "synallagmatic act by which a State transfers the exercise of rights or functions proper to itself to a foreign private test which, in turn, participates in the performance of public functions and thus gains a privileged position vis-a-vis other private law subjects within the jurisdiction of the State concerned."[1] International concessions are not defined in international law and do not generally fall under it. Rather, they are governed by the municipal law of the conceding state. There may, however, be a law of succession for such concessions, whereby the concession is continued even when the conceding state ceases to exist.[1]

In international law, a lease is "an arrangement whereby territory is leased or pledged by the owner-State to another State. In such cases, sovereignty is, for the term of the lease, transferred to the lessee State."[2] The term "international lease" is sometimes also used to describe any leasing of property by one state to another or to a foreign national, but the normal leasing of property, as in diplomatic premises, is governed by municipal, not international, law. Sometimes the term "quasi-international lease" is used for leases between states when less than full sovereignty over a territory is involved. A true international lease, or "political" lease, involves the transfer of sovereignty for a specified period of time. Although they may have the same character as cessions, the terminability of such leases is now fully accepted.[2]

American concessions

  • In 1850, the United States and Brunei signed a commercial treaty, which was activated in 1865. Out of this agreement, C.L. Moses, the then US First Consul to the sultanate, was able to secure a lease of a large territorial concession in North Borneo, founding the American Trading Company of Borneo.[3]
  • Guantanamo Bay: leased from Cuba (which now disputes the lease) under 1903 and 1934 treaties in perpetuity; no civilian administration, only military command.
  • Corn Islands: leased from Nicaragua for 99 years under the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty. Returned in 1970 after the treaty was annulled.
  • Pituffik Space Base: a concession granted to the United States rent free by Denmark in perpetuity pursuant to the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement which provides that the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the area in question.[4]
  • Two in imperial China:
    • 1848/54 American concession in Shanghai (since 17 November 1843 a Treaty Port) established, until on 21 September 1863 (after the 1862 Proposal to make Shanghai an independent "free city" was rejected) an International Settlement in Shanghai was created by union of the American and British concessions (consummated December 1863).
    • American concession of Tianjin (Tientsin).
  • The numerous cemeteries and monuments administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. These are located in Belgium, Cuba, France, Gibraltar, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Panama, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, South Korea, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom. The most popular sites among these are the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France and the John F. Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede, United Kingdom.

Austro-Hungarian concession holders

Belgian concession holders

British concession holders

Held by the United Kingdom

  • On 9 June 1898, the New Territories (comprising areas north of Kowloon along with 230 small islands) were leased from China for 99 years as a leased territory under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. On 19 December 1984, the UK agreed to restore all of Hong Kong—including the territories ceded in perpetuity—to China on 1 July 1997.
  • On 20 November 1846, a British concession in Shanghai (in China) was established (after the 16 June 1842 – 29 August 1842 British occupation of Shanghai, since 17 November 1843 a Treaty Port); on 27 November 1848, this concession was expanded, but on 21 September 1863 (after the 1862 proposal to make Shanghai an independent "free city" was rejected) an International Settlement in Shanghai was created by union of the American and British concessions (consummated in December 1863).
  • On 29 December 1877, representants of North Borneo Chartered Company met Abdul Momin, Sultan of Brunei. Before, in January 1876, Gustav Overbeck purchased from Joseph William Torrey for $15,000 the concessionary rights of American Trading Company of Borneo to territories in northern Borneo, conditional on the successful renewal of the concessions from local authorities. Overbeck was appointed Maharaja of Sabah and Rajah of Gaya and Sandakan in a 29 December 1877 treaty with Brunei Sultan Abdul Momin, who still claimed ownership of northern Borneo.[5] The Sultan agreed to make the concession for 15,000 Spanish dollars. However, since it turned out that the Sultan of Brunei had already ceded some areas to the Sultan of Sulu, further negotiations were needed. With the assistance of William Clark Cowie, a Scottish adventurer and friend of Sultan Jamal-ul Azam of Sulu, the Sultan signed a concession treaty on 22 January 1878 and received 5,000 Spanish dollars.[6]
  • The British concession of Tianjin (Tientsin), in which the trade centred, was situated on the right bank of the river Peiho below the native city, occupying some 200 acres (0.81 km2). It was held on a lease in perpetuity granted by the Chinese government to the British Crown, which sublet plots to private owners in the same way as at Hankou (Hankow). The local management was entrusted to a municipal council organized on lines similar to those at Shanghai.[7]
  • The British concession on the Shamian Island (Shameen Island) in Guangzhou (Canton).
  • Namwan Assigned Tract leased from autonomous Mengmao Chiefdom under Qing China sovereignty to British India.

See also

Privately held

Canadian concessions

Following the First World War the French Republic granted Canada perpetual use of a portion of land on Vimy Ridge under the understanding that the Canadians were to use the land to establish a battlefield park and memorial. The park, known as the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, contains an impressive monument to the fallen, a museum and extensive re-creations of the wartime trench system, preserved tunnels and cemeteries.

Chinese concessions

Between 1882 and 1884, the Qing Empire obtained concessions in Korea at Incheon, Busan and Wonsan. The Chinese concession of Incheon and those in Busan and Wonsan were occupied by Japan in 1894 after the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War. After China's defeat in that war, Korea (now with Japanese support) declared the unequal treaties with Qing China to be void, and unilaterally withdrew the extraterritoriality and other powers granted to China in respect of the concessions. The concessions were formally abolished in 1898.

Dutch concessions

In Japan, since 1609, the Dutch East India Company had run a trading post on the island of Hirado. Also, after a rebellion by mostly Catholic converts, all Portuguese were expelled from Dejima in 1639. So, in 1641, The Dutch were forced, by government officials of Tokugawa shogunate, to move from Hirado to Dejima in Nagasaki.[8] The Dutch East India Company's trading post at Dejima was abolished when Japan concluded the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States in 1858.

French concessions

Finnish concessions

  • Saimaa Canal: leased from Russia under 1963 and 2010 treaties in period of 50 years; civilian and commercial administration

German concessions

All in China:

Italian concessions

Japanese concessions

In China:

In Korea (Chosen), before the Annex of Japan-Korea (1910):

  • Busan
  • Incheon

Portuguese concession

Romanian concessions

Romanian Institute in Albania: Scientific organization in the Albanian town of Sarandë, subordinated to the Romanian Ministry of Education between 25 July 1938 and 1 November 1940.

Russian and Soviet concessions

  • The Russian concession of Tianjin (Tientsin).
  • one of the concessions of Hankou (Hankow; now part of Wuhan).
  • Hanko Peninsula, a peninsula near the Finnish capital Helsinki, was leased for a period of 30 years by the Soviet Union from its northwestern neighbour—and former possession in personal union—Finland for use as a naval base in the Baltic Sea, near the entry of the Gulf of Finland, under the Moscow Peace Treaty that ended the Winter War on 6 March 1940; during the Continuation War, Soviet troops were forced to evacuate Hanko in early December 1941, and the USSR formally renounced the lease—early given the original term until 1970—in the Paris peace treaty of 1947. The role of the Hanko naval base was replaced by Porkkalanniemi another Finnish peninsula, a bit farther east at the Gulf of Finland, in the armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union of 19 September 1944; the Porkkala naval base was returned to Finland in January 1956. In both cases, the Soviets limited themselves to a military command, without any civilian administration.
  • Khmeimim Air Base in Syria is leased to the Russian government for a period of 49 years, with the Russian government having extraterritorial jurisdiction over the air base and its personnel.[11][12]
  • Since 2015 after the Donbas and Crimea invasion Russia agreed to lease 300,000 hectares to China for 50 years for $449 million US dollars. The lease can be extended in 2018 if the first stage from 2015 to 2018 was successful. Russia needed the Chinese funds to replace a shortfall caused by western sanctions.[13][14] The Transbaikal region borders with China, and the lease agreement stirred up a maelstrom of controversy and anxiety in Russia.[15] China will send a massive influx of Chinese workers to settle and work in the area.[16]

Spanish concessions

  • On 22 July 1878, Spanish forces operating from the Philippines forced the Sultan of Sulu to surrender in the Spanish–Moro conflict, the Sultan of Sulu relinquished the sovereign rights over all his possessions in favour of Spain Suzerainty, based on the "Bases of Peace and Capitulation" signed by the Sultan of Sulu and the crown of Spain in Jolo on 22 July 1878, and permitted them to set up a small garrison on Siasi Island and in the town of Jolo.[17] These areas were only partially controlled by the Spanish, and their power was limited to only military stations and garrisons and pockets of civilian settlements. Causing Overbeck to lose his title and territory in the north-eastern areas just gained from the Sultan to the British Borneo. In 1885, Great Britain, Germany and Spain signed the Madrid Protocol to cement Spanish influence over the islands of the Philippines. In the same agreement, Spain relinquished all claim to North Borneo, which had belonged to the sultanate in the past, to the British government. Dividing Borneo in a Spanish and a British concession of the Sultanate of Sulu.[18]
  • Sultanate of Tidore established an alliance with the Spanish East Indies in the sixteenth century, and Spain had several forts on the island by concession, also conquering someones to Sultanate of Ternate (allied with portuguese and then with Dutch East India Company).[19]
  • All of Portuguese concessions in Africa and Asia were also Spanish concessions during Iberian Union.

Jointly held concessions

United Nations concessions

Foreign concessions in China

Main article: Concessions in China

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Concession". Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law. Oxford University Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-538977-7.
  2. ^ a b "Lease, international". Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law. Oxford University Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-538977-7.
  3. ^ The Indonesia-Malaysia Dispute Concerning Sovereignty over Sipadan and Ligitan Islands : Historical Antecedents and the International Court of Justice Judgment. Singapore: ISEAS. 2015. ISBN 978-981-4843-65-2. OCLC 1144870556.
  4. ^ "Avalon Project - Defense of Greenland: Agreement Between the United States and the Kingdom of Denmark, April 27, 1951". avalon.law.yale.edu.
  5. ^ RIVERS, P. J. (2004). "The Origin of 'Sabah' and a Reappraisal of Overbeck as Maharajah". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 77 (1 (286)): 67–99. ISSN 0126-7353. JSTOR 41493515.
  6. ^ Rutter, Owen (1922). "British North Borneo - An Account of its History, Resources and Native Tribes". Cornell University Libraries. Constable & Company Ltd, London. p. 157
  7. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Tientsin". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 963.
  8. ^ Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog, p. 207.
  9. ^ "Pulicat & the Forgotten Indian Slave Trade". Live History India.
  10. ^ Berry, Mary Elizabeth (1989). Hideyoshi. Harvard Univ Asia Center. ISBN 978-0-674-39026-3.
  11. ^ "Соглашение между Российской Федерацией и Сирийской Арабской Республикой о размещении авиационной группы Вооруженных Сил Российской Федерации на территории Сирийской Арабской Республики от 26 августа 2015 - docs.CNTD.ru".
  12. ^ Vasiliev, Alexey (2018-03-19). Russia's Middle East Policy. ISBN 9781351348867.
  13. ^ Hille, Kathrin (2015-06-25). "Outcry in Russia over China land lease". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  14. ^ "Governor says term of Russian land lease to China will be known within year". tass.com. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  15. ^ Gabuev, Alexander. "Who's Afraid of Chinese Colonization?". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  16. ^ "In addition to massive Siberian land lease, Beijing wants Moscow to agree to massive Chinese settlement". euromaidanpress 2015. 2015-06-16. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  17. ^ International Court of Justice (2003). Summaries of judgments, advisory opinions, and orders of the International Court of Justice, 1997-2002 (PDF). New York: United Nations. ISBN 92-1-133541-8. OCLC 55851512.
  18. ^ "British North Borneo Treaties (Protocol of 1885)" (PDF). Sabah State Attorney-General's Chambers.
  19. ^ Ramerini, Marco (2014-02-16). "The Spanish Presence in the Moluccas: Ternate and Tidore". Colonial Voyage. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  20. ^ William C. Johnstone, "International Relations: The Status of Foreign Concessions and Settlements in the Treaty Ports of China", The American Political Science Review, no 5, Oct. 1937, p. 942.
  21. ^ "光绪二十年（1894年）". 2007-10-08. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  22. ^ "Spain - Convention regarding the Organisation of the Tangier Zone, with Protocol relating to Two Dahirs concerning the Administration of the Tangier Zone and the Organisation of International Jurisdiction at Tangier, signed at Paris, December 18, 1923 [1924] LNTSer 187; 28 LNTS 541". www.worldlii.org. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  23. ^ Manley O. Hudson (April 1927), "The International Mixed Court of Tangier", The American Journal of International Law, Cambridge University Press, 21:2 (2): 231–237, doi:10.2307/2189123, JSTOR 2189123, S2CID 146925969
  24. ^ "Spain - Agreement revising the Convention of December 18, 1923, relating to the Organisation of the Statute of the Tangier Zone and Agreement, Special Provisions, Notes and Final Protocol relating thereto. Signed at Paris, July 25, 1928 [1929] LNTSer 68; 87 LNTS 211". www.worldlii.org. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  25. ^ Stuart, Graham Henry (1955) [1931]. The international city of Tangier. Stanford books in world politics (en inglés) (2da edición). Redwood City, Estados Unidos: Stanford University Press. OCLC 59027016.

Sources

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