Negotiations Of The Ryukyu Sovereignty Case In The Late Qing Dynasty

In April 1879,Japan absorbed Ryukyu by force.After that,around the argument over the problem of Ryukyu's ascription,the Qing government and Japanese government had been keeping negotiating repeatedly.The series of negotiation events were called the Ryukyu Sovereignty Case in history.The territorial sovereignty of Ryukyu is the core issue.The old ruling class,upper class of the Ryukyuan gentry,had carried out numerous political activities to survive by various means of petition to Japanese and Chinese government.authorities.From this perspective,the Ryukyu Sovereignty Case is a series of negotiations between Japan,China and Ryukyu in the late Qing Dynasty actually.Ryukyu was once an independent sovereign state in history,Ryukyu also owned its territory and people.In the Ming Dynasty,Ryukyu started to pay tribute to China.From then on till late Qing Dynasty,Ryukyu had always been vassal state of China.Even in that case,Chinese dynasty never interfere in the internal affairs of Ryukyu.In the year of 1609,a Japanese satsuma master invaded Ryukyu.Since then,Ryuuyu had to pay tribute to the Japanese satsuma also,forming a two generasituation.Entering to nineteenth century,Japan walked on the capitalist road.Located close to Japan,Ryukyu bore the brunt of invasion from Japan.In 1872,Japanese Meiji Emperor started to confer titles of nobility on Ryukyu.In 1874,under the pretext of protecting Japanese nationals,Japan invaded Taiwan.In 1875,Japan prohibited Ryukyu paying tribute to Chinese government.In April 1879,Japan imprisoned the king of Ryukyu in Japanese capital,annexing Ryukyu by force.Upper class of Ryukyu had carried out numerous political activities to survive.These activities mainly happened in Tokyo,Beijing,Tianjin and Fujian.In China,part of government officials of Ryukyu,met Li Hong Zhang in Tianjin.On the other hand,another part of government officials of Ryukyu went to Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qing Dynasty,presenting the Ryukyu case.In Japan,the king of Ryukyu begged Japanese government of national independence.Officers and ordinary People of Ryukyu begged ambassadors and ministers of British and America,appealing to the justice.The Ryukyu problems happened in the 19th century.At that time,East Asia was undergoing big changes.After the First Opium War,both Japan and China,were force to concluded unequal treaties with foreign nations,forming modern international relationships.It means traditional Chinese Tribute-Trade System impacted by western countries,was falling apart.One after another,Ryukyu concluded a series of commercial treaties with Britain,France,America and the Netherlands.It also means that the special two genera relationship between Qing Dynasty government and Japanese government had been influenced by western forces.At the same time,the situation of two genera,also means the potential conflict between Chinese traditional tribute system and the system of Baku-han.Before Japan invaded Ryukyu,Ryukyu had been always keeping the two genera situation.The government of Ryukyu responded cautiously to the two nations,avoided offending neither of them.However,Japan's invasion stroke the balance of peace.The correlations between Japan,China and Ryukyu,made the Ryukyu problem Asian hot spot issue actually.China and Japan were two main nations in the process of the negotiation around The Ryukyu Sovereignty Case.However,Ryukyu also made efforts for its independence.Throughout the negotiations,many powers have their interests crisscross here.The Qing government tried to keep traditional tributary system,saving Ryukyu as a sovereign,independent state.The Qing government insisted that Japan had against the basic rules of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of 1871.Japan insisted that the independence of Ryukyu was in name only,it had always been dominated by Japan actually.Trapped in the middle,Ryukyu struggled to maintain sovereignty,independence and territorial integrity,carried out a series of activities among main nations.After Sino-Japanese War,Japan occupied Ryukyu actually.The defeated Qing government,however,lost the initiative on the Ryukyu problems.Even so,Qing government had never admitted Japan's occupation.The Ryukyu Sovereignty Case had been a pending question since then.