재류 청국인의 일본 내지여행 문제

A Study of Sino-Japanese Relations Over the Right of Chinese to Travel in the interior of Japan

Under ‘unequal’ treaties with the West, Japan allowed foreigners to travel in the interior of Japan for the academic research and medical care only. On the other hand, even after the Treaty of 1871 between China and Japan(Treaty of Tientsin), Chinese in the Japan treaty ports are forbidden to travel in the interior of Japan. Japan wanted to use the Chinese right to travel in Japan as conditions of the Sino-Japanese treaty revision negotiation. The clause of the Inland travel right was ambiguous in the treaty of Tientsin, which means that only “existing(or old-established) regulation” applied this matter. Although it makes possible to operate the treaty with a flexibility, Japan utilized these ambiguous aspects of the treaty for restricting Chinese right to travel. Ironically, Japan’s measures of prohibition, based on vague rules of the treaty, can be refuted by China with the same rules as well. This is why Terashima(寺島宗則)’s confidence of a ‘precise understanding’ of the treaty was simply changed by Inoue (井上馨)’s understanding of the ‘improper interpretation’ of the treaty. The treaty of Tientsin is known as the first ‘equal’ treaty of Japan and China. However, during the discussing the problems of Chinese right to travel, the equality of the treaty revealed it’s complex layers. The triangular relations with Japan, China, and great powers, are extended this problem from Chinese in Japan to Japanese in China. In other words, the equality varies from what Japan insists(=the same right to trade interior of China) to what China insists(=the same right to travel restricted to academic research and medical care). The statistics of foreigners who traveled to the interior of Japan shows that there are exceptions of Chinese. Not all Chinese are banned to travel to Japan, Chinese consulate or government officials and employed Chinese can travel to Japan. It means not only a Japan’s contradictory policy for Chinese, but also diversity of Chinese in the Japanese treaty ports.