The Transition From "Order Of Sinocentrism" To "Order Of International Law" In Modern East Asia

After the mid-1850 s,the United Kingdom,the United States and other western countries opened the doors of other countries by force in order to seize overseas resources and compete for world market.The expansion of capitalism in Asia was unstoppable,leading to frequent shocks in East Asia,and great changes in the balance of relations and the comparisons of strengthens among which China,Japan and Korea became the most typical countries.The Opium War happened in 1840.Two years later,the Treaty of Nanking was signed between China and the United Kingdom,marking China was gradually turned from an independent feudal country into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal one.In 1853,the arrival of Black Ships of the United States opened Japan by force for trade with the West,followed by the Treaty of Kanagawa signed in the following year when Japan was also confronted with unprecedented national perils.Under the oppression of a series of unequal treaties from the West,the Qing Dynasty of China launched the Westernization Movement guided by the idea of “learning foreign technologies to overpower foreign powers” which was suppressed in the end by the feudal imperial regime.In Japan,however,armed insurrections broke out,which demanded a radical reform and learning from the West.In 1868,Meiji Restoration was officially started.It could be detected from the Imperial Oath of Five Articles promulgated by the Meiji Emperor that the goal of the new government was to establish such a centralized,unsurpassed nation state in the world.In domestic affairs,Japan comprehensively promoted reforms and constantly reinforced its own strength.In December 1871,a high-ranking delegation,known as “Iwakura Mission”,was sent to Europe to learn from western countries' advanced technologies,industrialized production modes and state management systems.In diplomacy,Japan demanded a status of equality like other countries,demarcated border territories,solved the issue of ownership over the Sakhalin Island in the north and the Ryukyu Island in the south,and attempted to open the main road of transportation to Korea.In October 1872,the Meiji Government unilaterally changed the “Ryukyu Kingdom” to “Ryukyu Domain”,which initially realized the “privatization” and change from “China-Japan” to “Japan's Own Control” of the Ryukyu Island.After being refused by Korea for many times,Japan turned to negotiate to trade with the Qing Dynasty of China in an attempt to override Korea through the “Suzerain-Vassal Relationship” between China and Korea.Japan managed to cut off the relations one after another between China and the vassal states,and deconstructed the “Order of Sinocentrism” in order to enhance its status and voice in the region of East Asia.In this process,the most effective means used by Japan is derived from the West's “Elements of International Law”.The “Elements of International Law”,or so-called International Law,is the sum of legally binding principles,rules and systems gradually formed in the adjustment of modern state relations,which is mainly reflected by the signing of treaties under which all parties involved enjoy equality of being parallel and reciprocal in international exchanges.Before the introduction of the “Elements of International Law”,the “Oder of Sinocentrism”,also known as the “Tributary System”,“Investiture System” or “Suzerain-Vassal System” with China at the core had been operating for a long time in East Asia.The surrounding countries,including Korea,Vietnam and the Ryukyu Island were all in vertical,subordinate relations with China.Japan was also an important part of the “Order of Sinocentrism”.In modern times,under the influence of “Japan-centered Civilized World Order”,Japan ended its tributary relationship with the Ming Dynasty of China.However,due to its objective dependence on China,Japan failed to achieve in name and in fact an equal status with China.After the Meiji Restoration,such psychological requirement of Japan was rapidly amplified.In 1870,Japan lobbied many times the Qing Dynasty of China to make a covenant on the grounds that “the Qing State cannot stand up to the European and American powers alone,so it is with Japan.” In 1871,the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty was signed.The two countries went through a change from “real trust does not lie in a covenant” to “international law-based relationship.Japan achieved an equal status with China,but did not stop there indeed.In the second year after the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty took effect,taking that Ryukyu people were killed by the “savages” of nearby Mudan Village as a chance,Japan unilaterally sent troops to Taiwan in the name of protecting “nationals” and made the Mudan Incident,or called “Japanese Expedition to Formosa”.Under the intervention of western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States,China and Japan launched several debates.In this process,the original “View of Sinocentrism” of the Qing Dynasty had a fierce confrontation with the “View of International Law” advocated by Japan.At the time when negotiations were about to break up,the mediation by the United Kingdom defused an outbreak of war between China and Japan,leading to the reparations by the Qing Dynasty of China and the withdrawal of Japan.The Qing Dynasty of China temporarily retained its ownership over Taiwan by acquiescing the legitimacy of expedition,but failed to curb Japan's ambitious expansion in East Asia.Then,Japan invaded Korea,swallowed the Ryukyu Island and occupied Taiwan,and the “Order of Sinocentrism” was finally declared disintegrated after the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894.In the background of the change of world pattern in the 1870 s,the paper focuses on the impacts brought about by the expansion of western capitalism on regional relations in East Asia.With the differences of value orientation and diplomatic thinking between China and Japan in modern times taken as the main foothold,this paper expounds through giving a full account and analysis of the signing of the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty and the process of the Mudan Incident the historical inevitability of change from the “Order of Sinocentrism” to the “International Law Order”.The body text consists of prologue,six chapters and conclusion.Among them,the Chapter I of the body text mainly elaborates the formation process and manifestation forms of the “Order of Sinocentrism” and the intrinsic mini-Sinocentrism in Japan,Korea and Vietnam.The paper puts forward in particular that after the Western powers entered East Asia,China and Japan were confronted with external pressures,with internal mechanisms and also strength comparisons changed accordingly.The deconstruction of the “Order of Sinocentrism” appeared.Starting from the “International Law”,Japan magnified the existing “Japan-centered Civilized World Order”,attempting to achieve comparability with China on the one hand and coveting China's Ryukyu and Taiwan on the other.The Chapters II to IV explain in detail the whole process of Japan and the United States' conspiring to formulate an expedition plan and Japan's unscrupulousness in sending troops to Taiwan by ignoring China and foreign countries.The Chapter II focuses on the historical facts that the United States instigated and advised Japan in the early stage to make an excuse of sending the troops.The Chapter III focuses on the whole process of expedition and the Britain and the United States' intervening in the latter stage.The Chapter IV,on the basis of diplomatic negotiations with the “View of Sinocentrism” and the “View of International Law” as the premise,discusses the differences between the two modes of diplomatic thoughts.The Chapter VI elaborates Japan's introduction,study and application of the “Elements of International Law” and the attitudes towards Japan's “View of International Law” of the legal experts hired from the West by Japan.The Conclusion is the author's reflection and analysis of the changes of pattern of East Asia in modern times and the tentative analysis of the future trend of East Asia.With the official historical documents and notes of China and Japan as original data,this paper explores in depth while inspecting and judging in a comprehensive way the signing of the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty and the details of the Mudan Incident from 1870 to 1874 as an effort to show by means of sorting out the vein of changes in state relations the process of the change in modern East Asia from the “Order of Sinocentrism” to the “International Law Order” dominated by Japan.The paper focuses on the differences of value judgment and thinking mode between China and Japan in this process in hope of knowing and understanding the evolution law of China-Japan diplomacy and thus playing a referential role in promoting the stability in East Asia.