First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War 1894-95, conflict between China and Japan for control of Korea in the late 19th cent. The Li-lto Convention of 1885 provided for mutual troop withdrawals and advance notification of any new troop movements into Korea. Accordingly, when a Korean revolt erupted in 1894, both countries sent troops. However, after the insurrection had been suppressed, Japan refused to withdraw its troops and induced the Korean court to abrogate its agreement with China. The fighting that ensued between Chinese and Japanese forces ended with an easy victory for the more modern Japanese army.

The Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) declared Korea independent and provided for the cession of Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liaodong peninsula by China to Japan. China also had to pay a large indemnity. Within a week of the treaty signing, however, the diplomatic intervention of Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China. Under a subsidiary commercial treaty (1896), China yielded to Japanese nationals the right to open factories and engage in manufacturing in the trade ports. This right was automatically extended to the Western maritime powers under the most-favored-nation clause .

Bibliography: See T. Takeuchi, War and Diplomacy in the Japanese Empire (1935, repr. 1966); F. H. Conroy, The Japanese Seizure of Korea, 1868-1910 (1960).

Sino-Japanese Wars Two wars between China and Japan, marking the beginning and end of Japanese imperial expansion on the Asian mainland. The first (1894–95) arose from rivalry for control of Korea. In 1894, Japanese influence helped to provoke a rebellion in Korea. Both states intervened, and Japanese troops swiftly defeated the Chinese. China was forced to accept Korean independence, and ceded territory including Taiwan and the Liaotung peninsula. The latter was returned after European pressure. The second war (1937–45) developed from Japan's seizure of Manchuria (1931), where it set up the puppet state of Manchukuo. Further Japanese aggression led to war, in which the Japanese swiftly conquered e China, driving the government out of Peking (Beijing). The US and UK despatched aid to China (1938), and the conflict merged into World War 2, ending with the final defeat of Japan in 1945.

Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) War fought between China and Japan. After Korea was opened to Japanese trade in 1876, it rapidly became an arena for rivalry between the expanding Japanese state and neighbouring China, of which Korea had been a vassal state since the 17th century. A rebellion in 1894 provided a pretext for both sides to send troops to Korea, but the Chinese were rapidly overwhelmed by superior Japanese troops, organization, and equipment. After the Beiyang fleet, one of the most important projects of the SELF-STRENGTHENING MOVEMENT, was defeated at the battle of the Yellow Sea and Port Arthur (now Lüshun) captured, the Chinese found their capital Beijing menaced by advancing Japanese forces. They were forced to sign the Treaty of SHIMONOSEKI, granting Korean independence and making a series of commercial and territorial concessions which opened the way for a Japanese confrontation with Russia, the other expansionist power in north-east Asia.