Twenty-One Demands

This article is about the Japanese demands on the Chinese government in 1915. For Solidarity workers' demands of 1980, see 21 demands of MKS.
"21 Demands" redirects here. For other uses, see 21 Demands (disambiguation).
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The Twenty-One Demands was a set of demands made during the First World War by the Empire of Japan under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu to the government of the Republic of China on 18 January 1915. The secret demands would greatly extend Japanese control of China. Japan would keep the former German leased territory it had conquered at the start of World War I in 1914 and would have increased influence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia while having an expanded role in railways. The most extreme demands (in section 5) would give Japan a decisive voice in finance, policing, and government affairs: the latter would make China in effect a protectorate of Japan, and thereby reduce Western influence.

Japan was in a strong position during the course of the war as the Allies were in a stalemate with the opposing Central Powers. The United Kingdom and Japan had been in a military alliance since 1902, and in 1914, the UK had asked Japan to enter the war. China published the secret demands, upsetting the Americans and British. They were sympathetic to Chinese protests and forced Japan to drop section 5 in the final 1916 settlement. Japan gained little in China and lost a great deal of prestige and trust with both the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Chinese public responded with a spontaneous nationwide boycott of Japanese goods and Japan's exports to China fell drastically. The UK was affronted and no longer trusted Japan as an ally. With the First World War underway, Japan's position was strong and the UK's was weak; nevertheless, the UK and the US forced Japan to drop the fifth set of demands that would have given Japan a large measure of control over the entire Chinese economy and ended the Open Door Policy. Japan and China reached a series of agreements which ratified the first four sets of goals on 25 May 1915.

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