Russia and Great Britain in China

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THE chaotic conditions in China during the last few years have obscured the changes that have taken place in the old rivalry between the Russians and the British for power in the Far East. Prior to the Great War, the Russian Imperial Government sought to consolidate its political influence in North China without interfering with British commercial interests. In the background of Russia's China policy, however, was the hope of ultimately displacing British supremacy in Asia. It is not unlikely that the Tsar's ministers thought of him as the logical heir of the Mongol Emperors. Great Britain, confident in her great political and naval strength, was willing to confine herself to extending and consolidating her commercial hold in China, as long as Russia did not interfere with this by bringing political pressure to bear on China. In matters political, Great Britain sought to check Russia only in her attempted advance on India from the north.

The World War temporarily eclipsed Russia in China. She lost all her special privileges and concessions, including the Russian section of the foreign city at Tientsin. She also lost the rights of extra-territoriality throughout the republic. Great Britain's trade in the meantime increased largely, and her principal political concern was to see that Japan did not become too powerful on the Asiatic mainland. This policy, according to some of the British on the China coast, was rendered more difficult by the expiration of the Anglo-Japanese alliance with the signature of the Four-Power Treaty at the Washington Conference. There is a growing opinion among the British in China that Great Britain made a serious error in relinquishing the influence over Japan which the Anglo-Japanese alliance gave her...