William McKinley and the Open Door Policy
On January 2, 1900 (114 years ago today) President William McKinley's Secretary of State John Hay announced a policy that to promote trade between the United States and China, which became known as the "Open Door Policy."
After China suffered a devastating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, it faced the imminent threat of being partitioned and colonized by imperialist powers such as Britain, France, Russia, Japan and Germany. When the United States won the Spanish-American War of 1898, it acquired new colonies in the Pacific Ocean such as the Philippine Islands, and Wake Island. The United States increased its Asian presence and wanted to expand its commercial and political interest in China. But the US felt threatened by other powers' much larger spheres of influence in China and worried about losing access to the Chinese market should the country be partitioned. The address this concern, McKinley's State Department (led by Secretary Hay and by William Woodville Rockhill) devised the Open Door Policy in order to safeguard American business opportunities and other interests in China.
In September of 1899, Secretary of State John Hay sent diplomatic notes to the major powers (France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia), asking them to declare formally that they would uphold Chinese territorial and administrative integrity and would not interfere with the free use of the treaty ports within their spheres of influence in China. The Open Door Policy stated that all nations, including the United States, would be able to enjoy equal access to the Chinese market.
Initially, most of these countries tried to evade Hay's request, stating that they could not commit themselves until the other nations had complied. Specifically, Great Britain favored the idea, but Russia opposed it. France, Germany, Italy and Japan agreed in principle, but only if all the other nations signed on. Hay persevered and in July of 1900 he announced that each of the powers had granted consent in principle. Although no nation intervened militarily, competition among these nations for special concessions within China for railroad rights, mining rights, loans, foreign trade ports, and so forth, continued.
Trade with China became threatened shortly thereafter as the Boxer Rebellion adversely affected foreigners and their property in China. Americans and other westerners in Peking were besieged (including future president and young mining engineer Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou.) In cooperation with other western powers, McKinley ordered 5000 troops to the city in June 1900 in the China Relief Expedition. The westerners were rescued the next month. Some Congressional Democrats objected to McKinley dispatching troops without consulting Congress. McKinley’s actions set a precedent followed by many of his successors in which they as president exerted similar independent control over the US military. When the rebellion ended, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the Open Door policy, which became the basis of American policy toward China for the next several decades.
John Hay had began his career as Abraham Lincoln's secretary. His life was chronicled in a wonderful biography by John Taliaferro, published in 2013, entitled All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay From Lincoln to Roosevelt.
After China suffered a devastating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, it faced the imminent threat of being partitioned and colonized by imperialist powers such as Britain, France, Russia, Japan and Germany. When the United States won the Spanish-American War of 1898, it acquired new colonies in the Pacific Ocean such as the Philippine Islands, and Wake Island. The United States increased its Asian presence and wanted to expand its commercial and political interest in China. But the US felt threatened by other powers' much larger spheres of influence in China and worried about losing access to the Chinese market should the country be partitioned. The address this concern, McKinley's State Department (led by Secretary Hay and by William Woodville Rockhill) devised the Open Door Policy in order to safeguard American business opportunities and other interests in China.
In September of 1899, Secretary of State John Hay sent diplomatic notes to the major powers (France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia), asking them to declare formally that they would uphold Chinese territorial and administrative integrity and would not interfere with the free use of the treaty ports within their spheres of influence in China. The Open Door Policy stated that all nations, including the United States, would be able to enjoy equal access to the Chinese market.
Initially, most of these countries tried to evade Hay's request, stating that they could not commit themselves until the other nations had complied. Specifically, Great Britain favored the idea, but Russia opposed it. France, Germany, Italy and Japan agreed in principle, but only if all the other nations signed on. Hay persevered and in July of 1900 he announced that each of the powers had granted consent in principle. Although no nation intervened militarily, competition among these nations for special concessions within China for railroad rights, mining rights, loans, foreign trade ports, and so forth, continued.
Trade with China became threatened shortly thereafter as the Boxer Rebellion adversely affected foreigners and their property in China. Americans and other westerners in Peking were besieged (including future president and young mining engineer Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou.) In cooperation with other western powers, McKinley ordered 5000 troops to the city in June 1900 in the China Relief Expedition. The westerners were rescued the next month. Some Congressional Democrats objected to McKinley dispatching troops without consulting Congress. McKinley’s actions set a precedent followed by many of his successors in which they as president exerted similar independent control over the US military. When the rebellion ended, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the Open Door policy, which became the basis of American policy toward China for the next several decades.
John Hay had began his career as Abraham Lincoln's secretary. His life was chronicled in a wonderful biography by John Taliaferro, published in 2013, entitled All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay From Lincoln to Roosevelt.