Open Door Policy

The Open Door policy was an effort by the U.S. government to preserve China's territorial and administrative integrity at a time when it seemed the major imperial powers intended to carve China into a series of concessions, perhaps presaging the end of a unified China.

In the aftermath of the Spanish-American War (1898), America looked more eagerly at the elusive China market. America had gained Wake, Guam, and the Philippines and, earlier, Midway, Samoa, and the Hawaiian Islands—all stepping stones on the way to China. And China seemed the answer to prevent a recurrence of the economic depression that had just ended.

In September 1899 U.S. secretary of state John Hay proposed an "Open Door" policy in China in which all nations would have equal trading and development rights throughout all of China. He sent notes to the British, German, and Russian governments and in November to the French, Italian, and Japanese governments. Acting in the spirit of the most-favored-nation concept, which America had secured nearly six decades earlier, Hay wrote carefully, seeking not to criticize the increasing spread of spheres of influence. He sought to retain equal opportunity for trade and industry, especially for such latecomers as the United States.

The notes in 1899 did not result in much. No government would commit itself before others did, and Russia and Japan explicitly rejected America's suggested policy. Interestingly, Hay announced in March 1900 that every government had accepted the policy, although Japan did challenge Hay's statement. And, after the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, Hay sent a second note that sought to preserve China.

But America's Open Door policy could not halt the rising tide of imperialism. Japan ignored the policy in expanding its control in Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese War, again with the infamous 21 Demands in January 1915, and with the secret treaties Japan negotiated with Britain and France during World War I (1914–1918) giving it the German concession in China. Indeed, the Washington Naval Conference (officially termed the Conference on Limitation of Armaments) had as a goal guaranteeing China's territorial and administrative integrity—the purpose of the Open Door policy—but the resulting Nine Power Treaty was long on phrases and short on action.

During World War II (1941–1945), when the Western Allies renounced their "unequal treaty" rights and China regained its territorial integrity, the Open Door policy became a dead issue.

see also China, First Opium War to 1945; Qing Dynasty; Scramble for Concessions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Campbell, C. S. Special Business Interests and the Open Door Policy. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1968.

Hunt, Michael H. Frontier Defense and the Open Door: Manchuria in Chinese-American Relations, 1895–1911. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1973.

McCormick, Thomas J. China Market; America's Quest for Informal Empire, 1893–1901. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1967.

Tomimas, Shutaro. The Open Door Policy and the Territorial Integrity of China. Arlington, VA: University Publications of America, 1976.