不平等条約下の台湾領有 : 樟脳をめぐる国際関係

抄録

After its victory in the Sino-Japanese War, Japan was able to revise the provisions of the unequal treaties which it had been forced to sign with the western powers in the 1850s, but was not able to achieve autonomy immediately. As far as the latter were concerned, China's cession of Taiwan to Japan was an agreement made by two 'unequal treaty countries', and Japan would therefore have to negotiate over the status of western rights in Taiwan. In the case of camphor, Japan agreed to recognize the rights held by the western powers until the revised treaties came into force in 1899. With regard to China, however, it implemented the provisions of the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki, which it had imposed after the Sino-Japanese War. In particular, the restrictions on the entry of Chinese into the Taiwanese interior effectively ousted non-Japanese capital from the island by stopping the commercial activities of foreign firms, since they relied on Chinese compradors and purchasing agents to carry out trade in camphor.