- This article is designated a work in progress. Please ask the wiki team before adding content.
The Second China Consortium was a 1921 agreement between the Republic of China, Japan, Germany, Britain, Russia and the USA. It reconstructed the Lapsed Six-Power Consortium which monopolized loans and investment to the Chinese central government. First proposed by the newly-elected McAdoo Administration in the summer of 1921, it was adopted by all relevant powers following considerable negotiations on 6 October 1921. The Consortium was intended to promote peaceful collaboration between great powers while aiding the economic development of China, a country torn by civil conflict.
Second China Consortium and Tsingtao Accord
Background[]
In 1912, President Yuan Shikai of China formed an agreement with five foreign powers that guaranteed they alone could lend to the Chinese central government. The deal fell apart during the Weltkrieg, as with four of the five foreign powers preoccupied, the Wilson Administration was able to have the USA lend to China on its own terms, bypassing the consortium.
Following the cessation of hostilities in mainland Europe, Japan had refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles in November 1919. However, fearing international isolation and lack of competitiveness with the United States and a recovering Germany, Japan was brought to the bargaining table.
Britain, Russia, and the United States hoped to revive the pre-war balance of power in Asia, which Japan's occupation of Tsingtao threatened to upset. Germany naturally hoped for the return of its East Asian and Pacific territories.
Result[]
After months of negotiation, the treaty was adopted by the six parties on October 6th. The pre-war borders were agreed to be respected, an implicit rejection of Japan's claim to Tsingtao. In return, Japan's "existing special interests" in Manchuria were explicitly excluded from the agreement. The treaty also obliged Japan and Germany to agree to a peace treaty within a month from the Second China Consortium's signing, leading to the Tsingtao Accord exactly one month later.
The Consortium is viewed by some as having laid the theoretical foundation for the Shanghai Conference in 1928.