New Views On Qing Government's Diplomacy From 1901 To 1911

In ten years of late stage of Qing Dynasty, China has accepted completely the modern diplomatic system, which center is sovereign state, and accomplished the transition from traditional diplomacy to modern diplomacy.The establishment of The Foreign Ministry not only reflects the expansionism of capitalist country, but also satisfies the requirement that Qing government wants to change by reformation. Compared with Zong-li-ya-men, The decision mechanism of The Foreign Ministry has occurred significant change. The establishments of Chu-cai-guan and Ji-yao-gu embody the change of Qing government's diplomatic concepts and the two departments have important position on modern diplomatic history. The Foreign Ministry is the first special diplomatic organization in the history of Qing government, And it has following characteristics: It is a standing organization, and it has full-time officials. Its authority' is single-minded, and its responsibility is clear. It is the diplomatic confluence of Qing Dynasty and plays a key role in foreign affairs. It pays more attentions to the officials' professional quality, and its working efficiency has been improved greatly.Qing government has carried out reformation at seven aspects for modern envoy system: The first, limit the standard of severing as an envoy strictly and make the presidency variable; The second, authorize The Foreign Ministry to choose and arrange the embassy; The third, control the use of mission treasuries strictly; The forth, fix the number of the diplomatic officials to the post; The fifth, ameliorate the embassy system of military officials; The sixth, determine salary standard again; The seventh, reiterate the right to accept and send the missions. The reformation of envoy system presents two big characteristics: centralization of power and efficiency. The reasons that the reformation has been realized smoothly are that followed: The reform atmosphere in ruling group; the result of Qing government's modernization in early stage; the frequent intercourse between China and the other countries.During this period, Qing government has still reformed the protocol of calling on the emperor, perfected the medal system and established national anthem. Qing government doesn't reconcile itself to any other countries completely, however, it shows more initiative in this reformation. The protocol activities of Qing government present four characteristics: Firstly, breaking through the concepts of managing Fan; secondly, expanding the number and scale; thirdly, augmenting the forms; lastly, royalty's taking active in it.To realize the unification of diplomatic power, Qing government reforms the local diplomatic system at two aspects: one is to unify the diplomatic right; the other is to rectify the local diplomatic organization. Qing government creates the system of Jiao-she-shi. The negotiation between China and England on Tibet during 1904-1906 protrudes the historic meaning of unifying diplomatic right. And the negotiation between China and Japan on Dong-sha Island can also show the same meanings, but can more show the change of Qing government's attitude to territory.To transplant the diplomatic system has its certainty in modern China. The advance of diplomatic system is helpful for diplomacy to be successful. The biggest characteristic of reformation in this period is initiative, and it plays a great role in the history of Chinese diplomacy and even the whole of Chinese modernization.