In front of the Governor's Palace in Jiaozhou, Germany, a ceremony for the transfer of power has come to an end.

Today, just in front of the Governor's Palace, Germany will officially return the Jiaozhou Bay lease to China. Once this transition of power is complete, China will fully regain its sovereignty over the region.

Compare. , Wanbi

The Chinese representatives attending the handover ceremony were honored by Wu Tingfang, former minister of foreign affairs, while the representatives of the German side were honored by Major General Trumeier, the German governor in Jiaozhou Bay.

Although Mr. President of China did not come in person, he sent a plenipotentiary to attend the handover ceremony with Mr. Ng Dinh Phuong, the President's special envoy, Mr. Li Yuanhong, President of the National Assembly.

Originally, the central government of China attached great importance to the return of sovereignty over the leased land in Jiaozhou Bay, and wanted to invite ministers from various countries in China to attend the ceremony. However, since the war in Europe had broken out and Britain had officially declared war on Germany, the Entente members Britain, France, and Russia did not send envoys to Qingdao to observe the ceremony, but only congratulated the Chinese side through diplomatic channels. As a result, only the ministers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, Mexico, Peru and other countries rushed to Qingdao to watch the ceremony. As for neutral countries such as Belgium and Italy. Because of the war between the Entente and the Central Powers, the Entente was unable to send an envoy to Qingdao to observe the ceremony, so as not to provoke the Entente.

However, both Germany and China are full of confidence in this handover ceremony, which "symbolizes the unbreakable friendship between the two countries", and the citizens of Qingdao are all looking forward to it.

For many years, this is the first time that they have regained their territory from foreigners, not to mention that it was recaptured through peaceful negotiations, and the mood of the people is of course high, as far as the press is concerned. They temporarily shifted their main attention from the Liaodong battlefield to Qingdao, and sent the most effective reporters to cover the entire handover ceremony.

To be honest, Wu Tingfang is very excited about this glory now, since modern times. He is probably one of the few lucky people in China's diplomatic circles. He has no regrets about being able to preside over this ceremony. recalled when I was a staff member under Li Hongzhang. He often had to be ordered to deal with foreigners, and he was never able to grasp the initiative, and only now, under the command of President Zhao Da, can he somewhat appreciate the style of "equal diplomacy".

As the president's special envoy, Li Yuanhong was more excited than Wu Dinh Phuong, since the start of the war against Japan. The congress adjourned, and in addition to doing some aftermath work, he only cared about the business conditions of the industries he had invested in, and gradually faded out of the eyes of the world, which somewhat made Li Yuanhong a little uncomfortable, but fortunately, the president was considerate of his subordinates. This time the sovereignty of Jiaozhou Bay was recovered, and the president specially ordered Li Yuanhong to act as a special envoy to observe the ceremony, which is enough to explain. In the president's mind, his Li family still belongs to the backbone of the minister, and the previous worries can be put down. In the future, the president will be in power, and he will only be indispensable in the power circle of this center, Li Yuanhong's seat.

Just when Wu Tingfang and Li Yuanhong were galloping thousands of miles, the national anthem was played, accompanied by the national anthem. A national flag was raised on the flagpole in front of the Governor's Palace, the band held it very well, when the national flag was raised to the top of the flagpole, it was just the time to finish the performance of a national anthem, and at this time, the applause of the scene rang out, and the citizens of Qingdao who were invited to watch the ceremony stood up from their chairs, and many people were already in tears.

Diplomats from all over the world had to stand up to show respect for China's sovereignty, and at this very moment, German Minister Rex, who was standing next to American Minister Stade, said a few words in very low, heavily German English.

"Mr. Minister, this is the basis of peace in the Far East. This is the right path for world peace. War was not Germany's choice

I listened to these few sentences of English with a strong German flavor. Swud only smiled and nodded politely to Mr. German Minister, but did not take the conversation.

In this all-out war in Europe, which has already erupted, the US government has made its position clear. That's easy. Another very important reason is that there are many German-Americans in the United States, and they are important supporters of "isolationism", precisely because they see that the US government cannot fight on the side of Germany. That's why these German-Americans put a special emphasis on it."

Steder fully supports the U.S. government's position, but he does so from the perspective of purely national and commercial interests. It is a matter for Europe for Europeans to go to war, and there is no need for the United States to webbing the troubled waters of Europe, as long as it seizes the opportunity, a war fortune is enough, before. The U.S. government was also worried that China would join Germany in going to war against the Entente powers, which would make the situation in the Far East more unpredictable, and that the U.S. might have to enter the war in advance to ensure the balance of power in the Far East, but for now, the U.S. government can basically rest assured that the Chinese central government has made it clear that it will end the war against Japan. China will not consider the matter of signing a military alliance treaty with the Allies. Even if the war with Japan is over, China will not easily join Europe

Contend.

With this statement, the US Government does not need to rush to "save" Japan now, and the United States will continue to mediate in the Sino-Japanese War in the Far East.

It is precisely for this reason that the British and French governments have some complaints against the US government, complaining that the Americans are unwilling to contribute to peace in the Far East and only care about making money from the war

Now, the words of Rex, the German minister to China, are based on this. role, but Stade was not fooled, as a businessman-turned-diplomat. Stade knows very well that there is no difference between justice and injustice in international wars, and there are only interests, all for the sake of interests. Even China's war with Japan was for profit. Interests.

Finally, the ceremony of returning sovereignty in front of the Qingdao Governor's Mansion ended smoothly.

Si Taide walked up to Wu Tingfang with his assistant. He extended his hand to the head of the Chinese delegation.

"Congratulations on your country's recovery of sovereignty over Jiaozhou Bay. I hope that your country will be able to recover sovereignty over all leased territories at an early date. ”

Wu Tingfang smiled and stretched out his hand, shook hands with Minister Mei Zai, and then said something that made Stade a little surprised.

"Thank you, Mr. Minister, for your support. In fact. The resumption of sovereignty over Jiaozhou Bay is only an important diplomatic move by the central government to revive the country. Next, we will start diplomatic negotiations with various countries to discuss the issue of recovering the concessions and leased lands of various countries in China, as well as the issue of foreign debts owed by the puppet Qing dynasty, especially the issue of indemnity, and our government insists that if we want to maintain long-term peace in the world, we must insist on conducting diplomacy on an equal footing, and any unequal diplomatic action will lead to conflicts between countries, as evidenced by the current Sino-Japanese war, if the Japanese government is willing to sit down and conduct diplomatic negotiations on an equal footing. Maybe the two countries don't have to go to war at all. ”

Stade pondered the true purpose of these words for a moment, and then asked.

"Excuse me, is this your own opinion, or is it your opinion, Mr. President?"

"It's the view of the central government."

Wu Tingfang was very cautious and did not directly say that this was what the president had personally said to him, in fact, this time he came to Qingdao to preside over the ceremony of returning sovereignty to the second, and he still had an important task. That is to take this opportunity to hold informal talks with the German and Austria-Hungarian envoys to China to discuss the return of the concessions to China and the complete exemption of Gengzi indemnity, and after leaving Qingdao and returning to Beijing, he will also hold informal talks with the envoys of Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and other countries in China to discuss the same matter, with a very clear purpose. That is, to take advantage of the outbreak of the war in Europe to abolish the extraterritoriality of European countries in China in one fell swoop, and to completely abolish the foreign concessions in China, and at the same time to prepare for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to revise the treaties with other countries, and strive to abolish all the humiliating treaties signed by the Manchu dynasty and replace them with new ones.

Stade was stunned for a moment, the news surprised him a little, but it was only surprise. Although the United States also has concessions in China, the Chinese central government's repossession of the concessions will indeed cause the United States to lose the concessions. But these concessions and extraterritoriality are nothing compared to trade with China. In fact, as early as after Germany announced the return of the Jiaozhou Bay lease, the US government consulted Steder and asked him whether it was still necessary for the concession to exist. This seems to be a temptation for the U.S. government to follow suit, but before Steder could answer, the U.S. government seems to have changed its mind, because the other powers did not follow Germany's action and announced the return of the leased land or the ancestral realm, so there is no need for the U.S. government to follow suit.

But now, China's central government has apparently calculated this, and it is just in time for the outbreak of war in Europe. Both the Entente and the Allies wanted to prevent China from joining the other side in declaring war on their side, and perhaps the Chinese president was planning to use the opportunity to engage in a "diplomatic race."

Will the U.S. government agree to return sovereignty over the concession? Stade doesn't know now, but he can be sure that in this "diplomatic race." It is China, not the European powers, that holds the initiative.

After leaving the Governor's Palace, Stade drove in a horse-drawn carriage to the Rongshan Villa, where he planned to use the opportunity to spend a few days in the Rongshan Scenic Area, which had been gifted to Stade by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for his contributions to the U.S.-China trade show.

In fact, it didn't contribute much, but it was to establish a relatively harmonious relationship with the Chinese president, which is of course the duty of a diplomat. Stade just performed his duties seriously, but he is still somewhat disappointed, because there were rumors that the U.S. government was planning to transfer him back to China as an assistant to Mr. Secretary of State, but in the end the U.S. government changed his mind. This made Stade very frustrated, although he did have a good life in China, but as a politician and businessman with strong political ambitions, Stade would very much like to return to the United States, if possible. He even intends to run for the House of Representatives.

After lunch at the Rongshan villa, Stade had planned to go hiking with his friends and hunt by the way, but he didn't wait for them to finish maintaining their shotguns. The Dutch minister to China made a surprise visit and looked very nervous.

The visit of the Dutch minister led directly to the ruin of Stade's travel plan, which was in the afternoon of the same day. Stadoxun left Qingdao with his assistants, and together with the Dutch minister, he boarded a Dutch merchant ship north to Weihaiwei, from where he boarded a British destroyer to Tianjin, where he met with the British minister to China, Zhu Erdian. Then the three ministers returned to Beijing together.

By the time the train of the three ministers arrived in North Set, the events of the Dutch East Indies had already spread to society through the newspapers.

Compare. , Wanbi

Due to the unfair treatment of the colonial authorities and the brutal oppression of the local kings, Korean laborers in the British colony of North Borneo had staged an armed insurrection a few days earlier, and after attacking the local Anglo-Indian garrison, the insurrection of the Korean expatriate had crossed the Anglo-Dutch colonial boundary in Borneo and entered the territory of the Dutch colony and captured several towns.

Obviously, the situation in the South Seas region is moving towards chaos.