Japan–Russia Secret Agreements

The Japan–Russia Secret Agreements were a series of four secret treaties signed between Empire of Japan and Russian Empire after the Russo-Japanese War, in order to secure and recognize the rights of both sides in areas of the East Asia, specifically the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, and Mongolia.[1] They were signed four times between 30 July 1907 and around 3 July 1916, and were abrogated by the Soviet government after the Russian Revolution in 1917.

## Background[edit]

After the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan was faced with a conflict with Russia over its interests in Manchuria. There were two opinions in Japan, one that war between the two countries was inevitable and that Japan should prepare for it, and the other that every effort should be made to avoid war between the two countries. the Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi, preferred the second view and considered concluding a "Japan-Russia agreement" in which Japan would recognize Russia's interests in Manchuria and Russia would recognize Japan's interests on the Korean peninsula in exchange for the interests of Manchuria and Korea. However, this opinion was opposed by hardliners in Japan and the Russo-Japanese Agreement was replaced by the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902) with Russia as the imaginary enemy, which led to the Russo-Japanese War in 1904.[2]

## The First Treaty[edit]

After the Russo-Japanese War, the First Treaty was signed on 30 July 1907 by Motono Ichirō, the Japanese Ambassador in Moscow, and Alexander Izvolsky, the Foreign Minister of Russian. The treaty was divided into two parts: one is open agreement, which respected the treaties concluded between the two countries and China, respected China's independence, promoted open doors, and achieved equal opportunities and another is secret agreement, which defined the scope of Japan's interests in Southern Manchuria and Russia's interests in Northern Manchuria and Japan recognized Russia's interests in Outer Mongolia, and Russia recognized Japan's interests in the Korean Peninsula.[3]

## The Second Treaty[edit]

The Second Russo-Japanese Treaty was signed on 4 July 1910 by Motono Ichirō, the Japanese Ambassador in Moscow, and Alexander Izvolsky, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, which explicitly rejected the United States' proposed South Manchurian Railway Neutrality Act (the Knox's proposal) and ensured the rights and interests of both sides in Manchuria.[4]

## The Third Treaty[edit]

On 8 July 1912, Ambassador Motono Ichirō and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov signed the Third Treaty against the background that, as a result of the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution in China, the Republic of China replaced the Qing Dynasty and Japan and Russia divided the spheres of influence of the two countries in Inner Mongolia, with the treaty stipulating that the western sphere of influence of Inner Mongolia belonged to Russia and the eastern sphere of influence of Inner Mongolia to Japan.[5]

## The Fourth Treaty[edit]

On 3 July 1916, Ambassador Motono Ichirō and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov signed the Fourth Treaty, which strengthened the alliance between the two countries during World War I and protected their rights and interests in Manchuria and Mongolia from Chinese challenges. The Russo-Japanese alliance ended in 1918 with the fall of the Tsarist Empire at the end of World War I.[6]

## Historical influence[edit]

With the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Soviet Union replaced the Tsarist Empire and although the Soviet government abrogated the treaty, the Soviet Union still inherited interests in Northern Manchuria and Outer Mongolia. In order to avoid clashes with the Japanese Empire, some level of cooperation similar to that existing under the secret treaties had to be reestablished. As a result, a basic agreement to regulate relations between the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire was concluded in Beijing in 1925. In 1921 The Soviet Union assisted the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party in expelling the Chinese Beiyang government's garrison in Outer Mongolia and was at war with Chang Hsueh-liang's Northeastern Army over the Chinese Eastern Railway conflict in 1929 can be seen as a continuation of Soviet interests in these areas. But on the other hand, both the Tsarist Empire and the Soviet Union were wary of Japanese power in Manchuria due to Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, and in the forty years following the Russo-Japanese War, the Tsarist and later Soviet governments were careful to maintain a balance of power with Japan in the Far East and did not offend Japanese interests in Southern Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. After the Mukden Incident, faced with Japan bringing all of Manchuria under its control, the Soviet Union sold its right and interest in the Chinese Eastern Railway to Manchukuo and withdrew from Manchuria in 1935.

However, the Soviet Union still maintained its interests in Outer Mongolia, and in 1939 the Soviet Union and Japan fought a four-month war at Khalkh River the border between Outer Mongolia and Manchuria because the Soviet Union believed that Japan had violated the Soviet Union's sphere of influence in Outer Mongolia. On 14 March 1941, the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact signed by the Soviet Union and Japan reaffirmed the respective spheres of influence in Manchuria and in Inner and Outer Mongolia, which became the basis for the determination of the statehood of Outer Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic) in the Yalta Agreement of February 1945. The Japan-Russia Secret Agreement ultimately led to the complete separation between Outer Mongolian and Inner Mongolia.[7]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "The Secret Alliance with Japan Shattered by the Russian Revolution". nippon.com. 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
2. ^ Matsui, Masato (1972). "The Russo-Japanese Agreement of 1907: Its Causes and the Progress of Negotiations". Modern Asian Studies. 6 (1): 33–48. ISSN 0026-749X.
3. ^ 加藤陽子『それでも、日本人は「戦争」を選んだ』朝日出版社、2009年7月。ISBN 978-4255004853
4. ^ Matsui, Masato (March 1972). "The Russo-Japanese Agreement of 1907: Its Causes and the Progress of Negotiations". Modern Asian Studies. 6 (1): 33–48. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00000305. ISSN 1469-8099.
5. ^ "The USSR and Japan signed the Basic Convention". Presidential Library. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
6. ^ 江口圭一「1910-30年代の日本 アジア支配への途」『岩波講座 日本通史 第18巻 近代3』岩波書店、1994年7月28日、ISBN 4-00-010568-X、18～22頁
7. ^ "Russo-Japanese Relations". CQ Researcher by CQ Press. Retrieved 2022-02-10.

## External links[edit]

* The Secret Alliance with Japan Shattered by the Russian Revolution

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Treaties of Japan

Bakumatsu period
(1854–1868)|

* Japan-US Treaty of Peace and Amity (1854)
* Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty (1854)
* Treaty of Shimoda (1855)
* Dutch-Japan Treaty of Peace and Amity (1854) [ja]
* Japan-US Additional Treaty (1855)
* Japan-Netherlands Additional Treaty (1856) [ja]
* Japan-Russia Additional Treaty (1858)
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan) (1859)
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Netherlands and Japan (1859) [ja]
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Russia and Japan (1859)
* Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce (1858)
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan (1858)
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Portugal and Japan (1861)
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Prussia and Japan (1862)
* London Protocol (1862)
* Agreement of Paris (1864) [ja]
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Belgium and Japan (1866)
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Italy and Japan (1866)
* Russo-Japanese Provisional Treaty of Karafuto Island (1867)

Meiji era
(1868–1912)|

* Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Spain and Japan (1868)
* Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Austria-Hungary and Japan (1869)
* Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty (1871)
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Hawaii and Japan (1871)
* Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Peru and Japan (1873)
* Engagement between Japan and China respecting Formosa of 1874
* Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875)
* Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876
* US-Japanese Convention Revising Certain Portions of Existing Commercial Treaties (1878)
* Japan–Korea Treaty of 1882
* Japan-Hawaii Labor Immigration Treaty (1884)
* Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885
* Convention of Tientsin (1885)
* Declaration of Amity and Commerce between Thailand and Japan (1887)
* Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Mexico and Japan (1888)
* Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1894)
* Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the USA (1894)
* Italo–Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1894)
* Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895)
* Japan-Brazil Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation (1895) [ja]
* Treaty for returning Fengtian Peninsula (1895) [ja]
* German–Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896)
* Komura-Weber Memorandum (1896)
* Yamagata–Lobanov Agreement (1896)
* Japan–China Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896) [ja]
* Franco–Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896)
* Japan–Netherlands Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896)
* Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Chile and Japan (1897)
* Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Argentina and Japan (1898)
* Nishi–Rosen Agreement (1898)
* Japan-Thailand Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty (1898)
* Boxer Protocol (1901)
* Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902)
* Japan-China Additional Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1903) [ja]
* Japan–Korea Treaty of 1904
* Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1904
* Treaty of Portsmouth (1905)
* Taft–Katsura agreement (1905)
* Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905
* Additional Agreement of the Japan-China Treaty relating to Manchuria (1905) [ja]
* Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907
* Franco-Japanese Treaty of 1907
* Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907
* Japan–Russia Secret Agreements (1907–1916)
* Root–Takahira Agreement (1908)
* Japan-China Agreement relating to Manchuria and Jiandao (1909) [ja]
* Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910
* Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the USA (1911)
* Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1911)
* North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911

World War I–II
(1913–1945)|

* Japan-China Treaty of 1915
* Lansing–Ishii Agreement (1917)
* Sino-Japanese Joint Defence Agreement (1918)
* Treaty of Versailles (1919)
* Covenant of the League of Nations (1919)
* Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)
* Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1919)
* Svalbard Treaty (1920)
* Gongota Agreement of 1920
* Treaty of Sèvres (1920)
* Treaty of Trianon (1921)
* Four-Power Treaty (1921)
* Nine-Power Treaty (1922)
* Treaty concerning solution of Shandong issues (1922) [ja]
* Washington Naval Treaty (1922)
* Treaty of Lausanne (1923)
* Klaipėda Convention (1924)
* Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention (1925)
* German–Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1927)
* Kellogg–Briand Pact (1928)
* Japan-China Customs Agreement (1930)
* London Naval Treaty (1930)
* Shanghai Ceasefire Agreement (1932)
* Japan-Manchukuo Protocol (1932)
* Tanggu Truce (1933)
* India-Japan Agreement of 1934
* Japan-Manchukuo-Soviet Protocol for Cession of North Manchuria Railway (1935) [ja]
* He–Umezu Agreement (1935)
* Chin-Doihara Agreement (1935)
* Canada-Japan New Trade Agreement (1935)
* Japan-Netherlands Shipping Agreement (1936)
* Anti-Comintern Pact (1936)
* Hart-Ishizawa Agreement (1937)
* India-Japan Agreement of 1937
* Van Mook-Kotani Agreement (1938)
* Arita-Craigie Agreement (1939)
* Tripartite Pact (1940)
* Japan-China Basic Relations Treaty (1940)
* Japan-Manchukuo-China Joint Declaration (1940) [ja]
* Treaty between Thailand and Japan (1940)
* Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact (1941)
* Japan-Thailand Offensive and Defensive Alliance Treaty (1941) [ja]
* Japanese Instrument of Surrender (1945)

During the Cold War
(1945–1989)|

* Security Treaty between the United States and Japan (1951)
* Treaty of San Francisco (1951)
* Treaty of Taipei (1952)
* Treaty of Peace between Japan and India (1952)
* Treaty of Peace between Japan and Burma (1954)
* Japan–Philippines Reparations Agreement (1956)
* Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956
* Treaty of Peace between Japan and Indonesia (1958)
* Japan–South Vietnam Reparations Agreement (1959)
* Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan (1960)
* U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement
* Tokyo Convention (1963)
* Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea (1965)
* Ogasawara Reversion Agreement (1968)
* Okinawa Reversion Agreement (1971)
* Japan–China Joint Communiqué (1972)
* Japan-North Vietnam Joint Communiqué (1973)
* Japan–China Trade Agreement (1974)
* Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation (1976)
* Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China (1978)

Post-Cold War
(1989–)|

* US-Japanese Fishery Agreement (1991)
* South Korean-Japanese Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection (1993)
* Kyoto Protocol (1997)
* Australian-Japanese Security Treaty (2022)

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