The history of foreign relations of China is the history of China's relations with other states.
For the history of foreign relations of China before 1800, see Foreign relations of imperial China. During the 19th century, the Qing dynasty faced increasing pressure from Western powers and Japan, resulting in the Opium Wars, the imposition of unequal treaties, and the weakening of Chinese sovereignty. Chinese foreign policy focused largely on resisting foreign encroachment and preserving territorial integrity.
In the early 20th century, Chinese foreign relations became increasingly shaped by nationalism, anti-imperialism, and efforts to reunify and modernize the country. Following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party sought to end foreign domination while competing for control of China. The Second Sino-Japanese War brought China into the wider conflict of the Second World War and significantly altered its international position.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China aligned closely with the Soviet Union before the Sino-Soviet split reshaped relations within the communist bloc during the 1960s. During the Cold War, China supported anti-colonial and revolutionary movements across Asia, Africa, and Latin America while seeking recognition as a major power. In 1971, the United Nations recognized the People's Republic of China as the representative government of China, replacing the Republic of China.
Under Deng Xiaoping, the Reform and opening up policies initiated in the late 1970s expanded China's engagement with the global economy and contributed to its emergence as a major economic power. Since the early 21st century, China has pursued a more assertive foreign policy through military modernization, expanded international initiatives including the Belt and Road Initiative, and increased competition with the United States.
Qing Dynasty
By the mid 19th century, Chinese stability had come under increasing threat from both domestic and international sources. Social unrest and serious revolts became more common while the regular army was too weak to deal with foreign military forces. Chinese leaders increasingly feared the impact of Western ideas. John King Fairbank argued that from 1840 to 1895 China's response to the worsening relations with Western nations came in four phases. China's military weakness was interpreted in the 1840s and 1850s as a need for Western arms. Very little was achieved in this regard until the 1860s. Since the 1860s the Self-Strengthening Movement started and there was a focus on acquiring Western technology, similar to Japan. The 1870s to 1890s were characterized with efforts to reform and revitalize the Chinese political system more broadly. There was steady moderate progress, but efforts to leap forward such as the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898 roused the conservatives who stamped out the effort and executed its leaders. There was a rise in Chinese nationalism which led to a quick defeat in war with Japan in 1895. An intense reaction against modernization set in at the grassroots level in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.John King Fairbank, "China's Response to the West: Problems and Suggestions." Cahiers d'Histoire Mondiale. Journal of World History. Cuadernos de Historia Mundial 3.2 (1956): 381.
Opium Wars
European commercial interests sought to end the trading barriers, but China fended off repeated efforts by Britain to reform the trading system. Increasing sales of Indian opium to China by British traders led to the First Opium War (1839–1842). The superiority of Western militaries and military technology like steamboats and Congreve rockets forced China to open trade with the West on Western terms.Brian Catchpole, A map history of modern China (1976), pp. 21–23.
The Second Opium War, also known as the Arrow War, (1856–60) saw a joint Anglo-French military mission including Great Britain and the French Empire win an easy victory. The agreements of the Convention of Peking led to the ceding of Kowloon Peninsula as part of Hong Kong.John Yue-wo Wong, Deadly dreams: Opium and the Arrow war (1856-1860) in China (Cambridge UP, 2002).
Unequal treaties
A series of "unequal treaties", including the Treaty of Nanking (1842), the treaties of Tianjin (1858), and the Beijing Conventions (1860), forced China to open new treaty ports, including Canton (Guangzhou), Amoy (Xiamen), and Shanghai. The treaties also allowed the British Empire to set up Hong Kong as a Crown colony and established international settlements in the treaty ports under the control of foreign diplomats. China was required to accept diplomats at the capital in Peking, provided for the free movement for foreign ships in Chinese rivers, kept its tariffs low, and opened the interior to Christian missionaries. Manchu leaders of the Qing government found the treaties useful, because they forced the foreigners into a few limited areas, so that the vast majority of Chinese had no contact whatsoever with them or their ideas. The missionaries, however, ventured more widely but were widely distrusted and made very few converts. Their main impact was setting up schools and hospitals.Ssu-yü Teng and John King Fairbank, China's response to the West: a documentary survey, 1839-1923 (1979), pp. 35–37, 134–35. Since the 1920s, the "unequal treaties" have been a centerpiece of Chinese grievances against the West in general.Dong Wang, "The Discourse of Unequal Treaties in Modern China," Pacific Affairs (2003) 76#3 pp. 399–425.
Suzerainty and tributaries
For centuries China had claimed suzerain authority over numerous adjacent areas. The areas had internal autonomy but were forced to give tribute to China while being theoretically under the protection of China in terms of foreign affairs. By the 19th century the relationships were nominal, and China exerted little or no actual control.Amanda J. Cheney, "Tibet Lost in Translation: Sovereignty, Suzerainty and International Order Transformation, 1904–1906." Journal of Contemporary China 26.107 (2017): 769–783. The great powers did not recognize this system and gradually seized the supposed suzerain areas. Japan moved to dominate the Korean Empire (and annexed it in 1910)Andre Schmid, "Colonialism and the ‘Korea Problem’ in the Historiography of Modern Japan: A Review Article." Journal of Asian Studies 59.4 (2000): 951–976. online and seized the Ryukyu Islands;Ying-Kit Chan, "Diplomacy and the Appointment of officials in Late Qing China: He Ruzhang and Japan’s Annexation Of Ryukyu." Chinese Historical Review 26.1 (2019): 20–36. France took Vietnam;Robert Lee, France and the exploitation of China, 1885-1901 (1989). Britain took BurmaAnthony Webster, "Business and empire: A reassessment of the British conquest of Burma in 1885." Historical Journal 43.4 (2000): 1003–1025. and Nepal; Russia took parts of Siberia. Tibet was nominally left, but the Younghusband expedition and subsequent Qing attempt to reassert control led to the region's de facto independence in 1912.
China lost wars with Japan and gave up nominal control over the Ryukyu Islands in 1870 to Japan. After the Sino-French War of 1884–1885, France took control of Vietnam, another tributary state. After Britain took over Burma, as a show of good faith they maintained the sending of tribute to China, putting themselves in a lower status than in their previous relations.(Original from the University of California) To affirm this, Britain agreed in the Burma convention in 1886 to continue the Burmese payments to China every 10 years, in return for which China would recognise Britain's occupation of Upper Burma. After the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894 it lost Formosa to Japan.(Colonial period Korea; WWC-5) (Original from the University of California)
Manchuria was a contested zone between Russia and Japan, taking control away from China and in the process going to war themselves in 1904.Ian Nish, The Origins of the Russo-Japanese War (1985).
Christian missionaries
Catholic missions began with the Jesuit China missions from France and Italy in the 16th century. For a while they were highly successful in placing intellectuals and scientists in the royal court. The Pope, however, prohibited the priests from making accommodations for Confucianism or paganism. The Jesuits left, but returned in 1842. Converts were from the lower social strata, and numbered about 240,000 in 1840 and 720,000 in 1901. The Jesuits opened Aurora University in Shanghai in 1903 to reach an elite audience.Jean-Paul Wiest, "Bringing Christ to the nations: shifting models of mission among Jesuits in China." The Catholic historical review 83.4 (1997): 654–681. German missionaries arrived in the late 19th century, and Americans arrived in the 1920s, largely to replace the French.John Harney, "Enshrining the Mission: The Bishop Sheehan Memorial Museum and Vincentian Visions of China." American Catholic Studies (2015): 45–69. Online
Protestant missionaries started to come, including thousands of men, their wives and children, and unmarried female missionaries. These were sponsored and financed by organized churches in their home countries. At first they were limited to the Canton area. In the 1842 treaty ending the First Opium War missionaries were granted the right to live and work in five coastal cities. In 1860, the treaties ending the Second Opium War opened up the entire country to missionary activity. Protestant missionary activity surged during the next few decades. From 50 missionaries in China in 1860, the number grew to 2,500 (counting wives and children) in 1900. 1,400 of the missionaries were British, 1,000 were Americans, and 100 were from Continental Europe, mostly Scandinavia.Larry Clinton Thompson, William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris, and the Ideal Missionary (2009), p. 14; Jane Hunter, The Gospel of Gentility (1984), p. 6 Protestant missionary activity peaked in the 1920s and thereafter declined due to war and unrest in China, as well as a sense of frustration among the missionaries themselves. By 1953, all Protestant missionaries had been expelled by the communist government of China.Nicolas Standaert, "New trends in the historiography of Christianity in China." Catholic Historical Review 83.4 (1997): 573–613.
In the long-term, the major impact of the missions was the introducing modern medical standards, and especially building schools for the few families eager to learn about the outside world.Miwa Hirono, Civilizing missions: International religious agencies in China (Springer, 2008). The hospitals both cured sick people and taught hygiene and care of children.Michelle Renshaw, "'Family-Centred Care' in American Hospitals in Late-Qing China." Clio Medica 86.1 (2010). These hospitals lessened the hostility of Chinese officials.Xu Guangqiu, "The Impact of Medical Missionaries on Chinese Officials: Dr. Peter Parker and the Canton Hospital, 1835-1855" Journal of Presbyterian History (2019) 97#1, pp. 16–28.Hu Cheng, "The Modernization of Japanese and Chinese Medicine (1914-1931)." Chinese Studies in History 47.4 (2014): 78–94. The key leader of the 1911 Revolution, Sun Yat-sen, spent four years in exile in Hawaii, where he studied in Christian schools and eventually converted.Irma Tam Soong, "Christianity and Dr. Sun Yat-sen's schooling in Hawai'i, 1879-83." Chinese America: History and Perspectives (2010), pp. 75–86.