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China–United Kingdom relations

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China–United Kingdom relations
Map indicating locations of China and United Kingdom

China

United Kingdom
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of China, LondonEmbassy of the United Kingdom, Beijing
Envoy
Ambassador Liu XiaomingAmbassador Barbara Woodward

Chinese-United Kingdom relations (simplified Chinese: 中英关系; traditional Chinese: 中英關係; pinyin: Zhōng-Yīng guānxì), more commonly known as British–Chinese relations, Anglo-Chinese relations and Sino-British relations, refers to the interstate relations between China (with its various governments through history) and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China were on opposing sides of the Cold War, while the Republic of China and the United Kingdom were allies during World War I and World War II. Both countries are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Chronology

Michael Shen Fu-Tsung resided in Britain from 1685 to 1688. "The Chinese Convert" by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1687.
Signing of the Treaty of Nanking (1842).

Medieval

Rabban Bar Sauma from China visited France and met with King Edward I of England in Gascony.

William of Rubruck encountered an English bishop's nephew in the Mongol city of Karakorum.

Between England and the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)

  • English ships sailed to Macau in the 1620s, which was leased by China to Portugal. The Unicorn, an English merchant ship, sank near Macau and the Portuguese dredged up sakers (cannon) from the ships and sold those to China around 1620, where they were reproduced as Hongyipao.
  • 27 June 1637 First direct contact between British and Chinese. Four heavily armed ships under Captain John Wendell, arrived at Macao in an attempt to open trade between England and China. They were not backed by the East India Company, but rather by a private group led by Sir William Courteen, including King Charles I's personal interest of £10,000. They were opposed by the Portuguese authorities in Macao (as their agreements with China required) and quickly infuriated the Ming authorities. Later in the summer they easily captured one of the Bogue forts, and spend several weeks engaged in low-level fighting and smuggling. After being forced to seek Portuguese help in the release of three hostages, they left the Pearl River on 27 December. It is unclear whether they returned home.[1][2][3]

Between the UK and the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911)

Skilled diplomat, Li Hongzhang acted as a negotiator between the West and the late Qing Dynasty. Queen Victoria made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

Between the UK and the Republic of China (1912 - Present)

British diplomats rescued Sun Yat-sen from their Qing counterparts in 1896. Sun later founded the Republic of China.
The British Embassy in Beijing
Chinese Embassy in London
  • 1916 - The Chinese Labour Corps recruits Chinese labourers to aid the British during World War I.
  • 14 August 1917 - China joins the United Kingdom as part of the Allies of World War I.
  • 4 May 1919 - The anti-imperialist May Fourth Movement begins in response to the Beiyang government's failure to secure a share of the victory spoils from the leading Allied Powers, after Britain sides with its treaty ally Japan on the Shandong Problem. From this point the ROC leadership moves away from Western models and towards the Soviet Union.
  • 30 May 1925 - Shanghai Municipal Police officers under British leadership kill nine people while trying to defend a police station from Chinese protesters, provoking the anti-British campaign known as the May 30 Movement.
  • 19 February 1927 - Following riots on the streets of Hankow (Wuhan) the Chen-O'Malley Agreement is entered into providing for the hand over of the British Concession area to the Chinese authorities.
  • 1930 - Weihai Harbour returned to China.
  • 17 May 1935 - Following decades of Chinese complaints about the low rank of Western diplomats, the British Legation in Beijing is upgraded to an Embassy.[14]
  • 1936-37 - British Embassy moves to Nanjing (Nanking), following the earlier transfer there of the Chinese capital.
A sign displayed in Japanese-occupied Beijing in May 1940
  • 1937-41 - British public and official opinion favours China in its war against Japan, but Britain focuses on defending Singapore and the Empire and can give little help. It does provide training in India for Chinese infantry divisions, and air bases in India used by the Americans to fly supplies and warplanes to China.[15]
  • 1941-45 - Chinese and British fight side by side against Japan in World War II. The British train Chinese troops in India and use them in the Burma campaign.
  • 6 January 1950 - His Majesty's Government (HMG) removes recognition from the Republic of China. The Nanjing Embassy is then wound down. The Tamsui Consulate is kept open under the guise of liaison with the Taiwan Provincial Government.
  • 13 March 1972 - The Tamsui Consulate is closed.[16]
  • February 1976 - The Anglo Taiwan Trade Committee is formed to promote trade between Britain and Taiwan.[17]
  • 30 June 1980 - Fort San Domingo is seized by the Republic of China authorities in lieu of unpaid rent.[16]
  • 1989 - The Anglo Taiwan Trade Committee begins issuing British visas in Taipei.
  • 1993 - British Trade and Cultural Office opened in Taipei.[18]

Between the UK and the People's Republic of China (1949 - Present)

British and Chinese Flags together.

The United Kingdom and the anti-Communist Nationalist Chinese government were allies during World War II. Britain sought stability in China after the war to protect its more than £300 million in investments, much more than from the United States. It agreed in the Moscow Agreement of 1945 to not interfere in Chinese affairs but sympathised with the Nationalists, who until 1947 were winning the Chinese Civil War against the Communist Party of China. By August 1948, however, the Communists' victories caused the British government to begin preparing for a Communist takeover of the country. It kept open consulates in Communist-controlled areas and rejected the Nationalists' requests that British citizens assist in the defense of Shanghai. By December, the government concluded that although British property in China would likely be nationalised, British traders would benefit in the long run from a stable, industrialising Communist China. Retaining Hong Kong was especially important; although the Communists promised to not interfere with its rule, Britain reinforced the Hong Kong Garrison during 1949. When the victorious Communist government declared on 1 October 1949 that it would exchange diplomats with any country that ended relations with the Nationalists, Britain—after discussions with other Commonwealth members and European countries—formally recognised the People's Republic of China in January 1950.[19]

Union Flag flies from the PLAN ship Changbai Shan during a visit to Portsmouth in 2015

British in China

Statesmen

  • Sir Robert Hart was an Scots-Irish statesman who served the Chinese Imperial Government as Inspector General of Maritime Customs from 1863 to 1907.
  • George Ernest Morrison resident correspondent of The Times, London, at Peking in 1897, and political adviser to the President of China from 1912 to 1920.

Diplomats

Merchants

Military

Missionaries

Academics

Chinese statesmen

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Mundy, William Walter (1875). Canton and the Bogue: The Narrative of an Eventful Six Months in China. London: Samuel Tinsley. p. 51.. The full text of this book is available.
  2. ^ Dodge, Ernest Stanley (1976). Islands and Empires: Western impact on the Pacific and East Asia (vol.VII). University of Minnesota Press. pp. 261–262. ISBN 978-0-8166-0788-4. Dodge says the fleet was dispersed off Sumatra, and Wendell was lost with all hands.
  3. ^ J.H.Clapham (1927). "Review of The Chronicles of the East India Company Trading to China, 1635-1834 by Hosea Ballou Morse". The English Historical Review. 42 (166). Oxford University Press: 289–292. JSTOR 551695. Clapham summarizes Morse as saying that Wendell returned home with a few goods.
  4. ^ BBC
  5. ^ "Shameen: A Colonial Heritage", By Dr Howard M. Scott
  6. ^ China in Maps - A Library Special Collection Archived 2008-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Alfred Stead (1901). China and her mysteries. LONDON: Hood, Douglas, & Howard. p. 100. Retrieved 19 February 2011.(Original from the University of California)
  8. ^ William Woodville Rockhill (1905). China's intercourse with Korea from the XVth century to 1895. LONDON: Luzac & Co. p. 5. Retrieved 19 February 2011.(Colonial period Korea ; WWC-5)(Original from the University of California)
  9. ^ "Convention Between Great Britain and China relating to Sikkim & Tibet". Foreign & Commonwealth Office, UK Government. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  10. ^ Alicia E. Neva Little (10 June 2010). Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them. Cambridge University Press. pp. 210–. ISBN 978-1-108-01427-4.
  11. ^ Mrs. Archibald Little (1899). Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them. Hutchinson & Company. pp. 210–.
  12. ^ http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Intimate_China_1000044096/225
  13. ^ https://archive.org/stream/intimatechinachi00litt/intimatechinachi00litt_djvu.txt
  14. ^ a b "Britain Recognizes Chinese Communists: Note delivered in Peking". The Times. London. 7 January 1950. p. 6. ISSN 0140-0460.
  15. ^ J. K. Perry, "Powerless and Frustrated: Britain's Relationship With China During the Opening Years of the Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1939," Diplomacy and Statecraft, (Sept 2011) 22#3 pp 408-430,
  16. ^ a b File documents from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, passim. [1], released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request at Whatdotheyknow.com
  17. ^ http://www.roc-taiwan.org/uk/np.asp?ctNode=929&mp=132&xp1=132
  18. ^ Minutes of Evidence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs
  19. ^ Wolf, David C. (1983). "'To Secure a Convenience': Britain Recognizes China - 1950". Journal of Contemporary History. 18 (2): 299–326. doi:10.1177/002200948301800207. JSTOR 260389.
  20. ^ Malcolm Murfett, Hostage on the Yangtze: Britain, China, and the Amethyst crisis of 1949 (Naval Institute Press, 2014)
  21. ^ "British Envoy for Peking". The Times. London. 2 February 1950. p. 4. ISSN 0140-0460.
  22. ^ Mishra, Pankaj (December 20, 2010). "Staying Power: Mao and the Maoists". The New Yorker. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  23. ^ "Backgrounder: China and the United Kingdom". Xinhua. 2003. Retrieved 2008-12-10. "Chinese Envoy for London: A chargé d'affaires". The Times. London. 18 June 1955. p. 6. ISSN 0140-0460.
  24. ^ David C. Wolf, "'To Secure a Convenience': Britain Recognizes China-1950." Journal of Contemporary History (1983): 299-326.
  25. ^ Harold Munthe-Kaas; Pat Healy (23 August 1967). "Britain's Tough Diplomatist in Peking". The Times. London. p. 6. ISSN 0140-0460.
  26. ^ a b "Revealed: the Hong Kong invasion plan", by Michael Sheridan. From The Sunday Times, June 24, 2007
  27. ^ "Red Guard Attack as Ultimatum Expires". The Times. London. 23 August 1967. p. 1. ISSN 0140-0460.
  28. ^ Peter Hopkirk (30 August 1967). "Dustbin Lids Used as Shields". The Times. London. p. 1. ISSN 0140-0460.
  29. ^ "Backgrounder: China and the United Kingdom". Xinhua. 2003. Retrieved 2008-12-10. "Ambassador to China after 22-year interval". The Times. London. 14 March 1972. p. 1. ISSN 0140-0460.
  30. ^ "Queen to Visit China". New York Times. 11 September 1986. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  31. ^ http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6341963.html
  32. ^ a b Shaun Breslin, "Beyond diplomacy? UK relations with China since 1997." British Journal of Politics & International Relations 6#3 (2004): 409-425.
  33. ^ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/21/content_411202.htm
  34. ^ Foreign and Commonwealth Office Written Ministerial Statement on Tibet Archived December 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine 29 October 2008. Retrieved on 10 December 2008.
  35. ^ Kerry Brown, What's Wrong With Diplomacy?: The Future of Diplomacy and the Case of China and the UK (Penguin, 2015) ch 1.
  36. ^ http://www.china.org.cn/world/2010-07/05/content_20426640.htm
  37. ^ Zheng, Yongnian et al , "China's Foreign Policy: Coping with Shifting Geopolitics and Maintaining Stable External Relations." East Asian Policy 4#1 (2012) pp: 29-42.
  38. ^ Ross, John (2013). "The New Realities of China-UK Relations". China Today. 12: 15.
  39. ^ "Cameron hails China links at talks with Li Keqiang". BBC News. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  40. ^ "Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets the Queen on UK visit". BBC News. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  41. ^ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8da89c2-788d-11e5-a95a-27d368e1ddf7.html#axzz3pKPPWPGl
  42. ^ Elgot, Jessica (20 October 2015). "Xi Jinping visit: Queen and Chinese president head to Buckingham Palace - live". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  43. ^ Fitzgerald, Todd (20 October 2015). "Five places that Chinese President Xi Jinping should visit during his trip to Manchester with David Cameron". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  44. ^ "China-Europe Relations - Headlines, Politics, Business, Culture - China Daily - World - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  45. ^ "China-UK Relations: Forty-Five Years on & the Golden Era_人大重阳网|中国人民大学重阳金融研究院". rdcy-sf.ruc.edu.cn. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  46. ^ Kit-ching Chan Lau (1 December 1978). Anglo-Chinese Diplomacy 1906-1920: In the Careers of Sir John Jordan and Yuan Shih-kai. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 168–. ISBN 978-962-209-010-1.

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Since 1931

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  • Buchanan, Tom. East Wind: China and the British Left, 1925-1976 (Oxford UP, 2012).
  • Feis, Herbert. The China Tangle (1967), diplomacy during World War II
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  • Kaufman, Victor S. "Confronting Communism: U.S. and British Policies toward China (2001) online edition
  • Keith, Ronald C. The Diplomacy of Zhou Enlai (1989)
  • Luard, Evan. Britain and China (1962) online edition
  • MacDonald, Callum. Britain and the Korean War (1990)
  • Martin, Edwin W. Divided Counsel: The Anglo-American Response to Communist Victory in China (1986)
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Primary sources