Open Door Policy (1899/1900)

Statement of principles initiated by the United States (1899, 1900) for the protection of equal privileges among nations trading with China and in support of Chinese territorial and administrative integrity. The statement was issued in the form of circular notes dispatched by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay to Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia. The Open Door policy was received with almost universal approval in the United States, and for more than 40 years it was a cornerstone of American foreign policy.

The principle that all nations should have equal access to any of the ports open to trade in China had been stipulated in the Anglo-Chinese treaties of Nanking and Wanghia (1842-44). Great Britain had greater interests in China than any other power and successfully maintained the policy of the open door until the late 19th century. After the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), however, a scramble for "spheres of influence" in various parts of coastal China—primarily by Russia, France, Germany, and Great Britain—began. Within each of these spheres the controlling major power claimed exclusive privileges of investment, and it was feared that each would likewise seek to monopolize the trade. Moreover, it was generally feared that the breakup of China into economic segments dominated by various great powers would lead to complete subjection and the division of the country into colonies.

The crisis in China coincided with several major developments in the United States. A new interest in foreign markets had emerged there following the economic depression of the 1890s. The United States also had just gained the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii as a result of the Spanish-American War and was becoming increasingly interested in China, where American textile manufacturers had found markets for cheap cotton goods.

The 1899 Open Door notes provided that: (1) each great power should maintain free access to a treaty port or to any other vested interest within its sphere; (2) only the Chinese government should collect taxes on trade; and (3) no great power having a sphere should be granted exemptions from paying harbour dues or railroad charges. The replies from the various nations were evasive, but Hay interpreted them as acceptances.

In reaction to the presence of European armies in North China to suppress the Boxer Rebellion, Hay's second circular of 1900 stressed the importance of preserving China's territorial and administrative integrity. Hay did not ask for replies, but all the powers except Japan expressed agreement with those principles.

Japan violated the Open Door principle with its presentation of Twenty-one Demands to China (1915). The Nine-Power Treaty after the Washington Conference (1921-22) reaffirmed the principle, however. The Manchurian crisis of 1931 and the war between China and Japan in 1937 led the United States to adopt a rigid stand in favour of the Open Door policy, including the cutting off of supplies to Japan. Japan's defeat in World War II and the communist victory in China's civil war (1949), which ended all special privileges to foreigners, made the Open Door policy meaningless. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Article)