ABSTRACT
In addition to signing the 1915 “21 Demands” with Japan, the arrangements were further complicated on 24 September 1918, when Beijing made a separate secret agreement with Japan. The main Chinese delegate, Dr Wellington Koo, denounced the previous agreements as having been forced on China by Japan. After a two-month siege, Japanese troops occupied Kiaochow on 7 November 1914. Even though Japan had promised to restore Kiaochow to China, the central Chinese government in Beijing retained diplomatic relations with Germany until 1917, as well as protesting Japan’s seizure of the Shandong concessions. President Woodrow Wilson stood up for China’s rights at the Paris Peace Conference. The main Chinese delegate, Dr Wellington Koo, denounced the previous agreements as having been forced on China by Japan.
