An Open Door policy is a statement of things initiated by the US in 1899, 1900 for the protection of equal chances among countries trading with China and support of Chinese territory. The statement was issued in the form of a series of notes dispatched by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay to Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and also Russia. The Open Door policy was received with being approved world wide in the US, and for more than 40 years it was a key element for American foreign policy.
The US became very involved with the politics of China. With some major help from Great Britain, America sued, calling for an open door policy in China. Under this new policy no power would interfere with the actions of another.
The crisis in China coincided with several major developments in the US. A big new interest in foreign markets had made an appearance with the following economic depression of the 1890s. Back then the US also had just gained control of the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii as a result of the Spanish American War and was becoming more and more interested in China, where American textile manufacturers had found markets with cheap cotton goods.
The 1899 Open Door notes provided three main things:
- Each great power should maintain free access to a treaty port or to any other vested interest within its sphere.
- Only the Chinese government should collect taxes on trade.
- No great power having a sphere should be granted privileges for paying neither harbor dues nor railroad charges.
After World War II, China, a sovereign state was recognized, and all of the special concessions and all of the unequal treaties were canceled, except for the unequal treaties signed with Russia. But, with the rising power of the Communist party of china, the Open Door Policy was rejected until 1978. Since the late 1970s, the term "Open Door Policy" has also been used by the people republic of china as one idea for its demands for the nation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wFjjdMHv2A
(go here for a short video about the open door policy!)
sources:
Youtube for the video.
google images for the pictures!
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