The modern century is a humiliating history for China. After the Western powers used guns and cannons to open the closed door of the Qing government, they began to ruthlessly trample on the land of China. Dumping opium, occupying important ports, plundering countless historical relics of our country, forcing the Qing court to sign a series of unequal treaties and demanding huge reparations. Bad things were done, but because the Qing court was weak and incompetent, it could only endure in silence.
However, the people are still fighting. Whether it is the earlier Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement or the later Boxer Rebellion, all of them reflect the dissatisfaction of the people with the current situation. And their resistance also caused fierce repression by the Western powers. In the early 1900s, when the Boxer Rebellion was in full swing, the Western powers finally could not sit still and began to strike hard at the Qing government.
In this year, the eight great powers of Russia, France, Britain, the United States, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Japan formed an alliance and attacked Beijing in the name of suppressing the Boxer Rebellion, triggering the famous invasion of China by the eight-power alliance in modern times.
In less than 3 months, the Qing army was defeated, Beijing was completely lost, and Cixi and Guangxu were forced to flee the Forbidden City. After the Eight-Power Coalition occupied Beijing, it began a one-month period of smashing, looting and burning. Not only did it rob China of a large number of precious historical relics, but it also burned down the famous royal garden Yuanmingyuan.
Subsequently, the Eight-Power Alliance occupied Beijing in a partition, and the European powers, led by Britain, Germany and Russia, proposed to divide China proportionally. The other powers responded, but one country was adamantly opposed, and that country was the United States. If I think about it now, if it were not for the opposition of the United States, our country would have almost become a total colonial society, and the direction of modern history after that is both said. So why does the United States oppose the division of China by the great powers?
No, capitalists will only pursue profits, and will not have compassion, and the reason why the United States opposes it is for 4 reasons. First of all, the Eight-Power Alliance at that time, except for the United States and Japan, were all old powers. Its capitalist system is not as mature as other countries, and its colonization of the outside world is just beginning. At this time, most of China had been occupied by other countries or incorporated into its own sphere of influence, and the United States had little influence in China. If the division proposed by Britain, Germany and Russia were followed, the United States would not be able to gain any interest.
Second, geopolitically, the United States also suffers losses compared to other great powers. As mentioned earlier, although Japan is also a newly rising power, because it has previously launched a Sino-Japanese war, it has maximized the interests in China from other powers. Coupled with its close proximity to China, it is better managed. If our country wants to resist in the future, it will be more convenient for it to send troops to suppress it. The same goes for Russia, whose division of China is simply in their hands.
On the other hand, the United States, he is the farthest country from China among the eight countries, even if it has gained a large number of colonies, but the Emperor of Heaven is far away, and the cost of revolts and cross-oceans to suppress it is too great. Therefore, dividing up China has no substantial interest in the United States.
Third, the United States and the Qing government at that time had very close cultural and economic activities. At the end of the 19th century, the Qing government also sent a group of prodigies to the United States to study at public expense to learn advanced Western technology. Moreover, the United States was the main inflow of silver from the Qing government at that time, and if the Qing government collapsed, the economic rules would be rewritten. In this way, their previous interests will no longer exist, but they will not be worth the losses.
Fourth, the United States' move is also equivalent to setting up a memorial arch for itself internationally. He has demonstrated his "international image" of loving peace and opposing aggression. Why don't they enjoy the matter of fame and fortune?
Because the United States was in the way, in the end, the Eight-Power Alliance gave up the idea of dividing China and signed the Treaty of Xinugu with the Qing government instead. As a result, the Qing government lost the most money in modern times and promised to protect all the interests of the great powers in China. The invasion of China by the Eight-Power Alliance has finally come to an end.
The principle that backwardness means being beaten has been imprinted in the hearts of every Chinese since modern times. Weak countries have no diplomacy, and western powers cannot consider problems from the perspective of the Qing government. The U.S. decision not to divide China at that time was influenced by historical and current constraints, and if they were today, their mask of hypocrisy would surely be torn off.