America's Open Door Policy with China

1054 Words5 Pages
Secretary of State John Hay first articulated the concept of the “Open Door” in China in a series of notes in 1899-1900. These Open Door Notes aimed to secure international agreement to the U.S. policy of promoting equal opportunity for international trade and commerce in China, and respect for China’s administrative and territorial integrity. British and American policies toward China had long operated under similar principles, but once Hay put them into writing, the “Open Door” became the official U.S. policy towards the Far East in the first half of the 20th century. The idea behind the Open Door Notes originated with British and American China experts, Alfred E. Hippisley and William W. Rockhill. Both men believed that their countries’ economic interests in China would be best protected and promoted by a formal agreement among the European powers on the principle of maintaining an Open Door for trade and commercial activity. Under their influence, Secretary Hay sent the first of the Open Door Notes on September 6, 1899, to the other great powers that had an interest in China, including Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Japan. These nations maintained significant physical and commercial presences in China, and were protective of their various spheres of influence and trading privileges there, and elsewhere in Asia. Hay proposed a free, open market and equal trading opportunity for merchants of all nationalities operating in China, based in part on the most favored nation clauses already established in the Treaties of Wangxia and Tianjin. Hay argued that establishing equal access to commerce would benefit American traders and the U.S. economy, and hoped that the Open Door would also prevent disputes between the powers operating in China. For the United States, which held relatively little political clout and no territory in China, the
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