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Politics16 July 1894

Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (Treaty Revision)

Also called: Treaty revision, Aoki–Kimberley Treaty

Japan signed a new treaty with Britain abolishing consular jurisdiction (extraterritoriality). In 1911 it regained tariff autonomy as well, completing the revision of the unequal treaties.

The Rokumeikan in Tokyo, opened in 1883, symbol of the Westernisation drive aimed at treaty revision
The Rokumeikan in Tokyo, opened in 1883, symbol of the Westernisation drive aimed at treaty revision

Rijksmuseum · Public domain · Source

From the Iwakura Mission on, treaty revision was Japan’s foremost diplomatic goal. Inoue Kaoru staged balls at the Rokumeikan to display Westernisation, and plans to seat foreign judges in Japanese courts provoked backlash; attempt after attempt failed. Once Japan had a constitution and legal codes, Britain — worried by Russia’s advance — agreed, and on 16 July 1894, under Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation was signed in London. Consular jurisdiction ended in 1899, and in 1911, under Komura Jutarō, Japan regained tariff autonomy too. The treaty was signed nine days before the Sino-Japanese War broke out.

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States and rulers at the time
Japan · signatory — Emperor Meiji
Great Britain · signatory

People

  • Mutsu Munemitsu1844 – 1897

    diplomat · Japanese foreign minister (1892–1896) who ended extraterritoriality through treaty revision with Britain and steered the Sino-Japanese War and the Treaty of Shimonoseki

Before and after

Earlier
1889 Grain Export Ban
Later
1894 First Sino-Japanese War

Themes that include this event

  • The Opening of East Asia1839 – 1901

    From the Opium War to the Boxer Protocol — sixty years in which China, Japan and Korea, forced open by Western gunboats, each tried to reform and went separate ways