The 21 Demands
Key Points
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- "Not only were the Demands unprecedented in their nature, being, as the Chinese government pointed out, such as might be presented by a military conqueror to its victim, but the method of presentation itself was in disregard of diplomatic usage. By diplomatic convention the demands should have been presented to the Ministry.The fact that the paper on which the Demands were written was watermarked with dreadnoughts [battleships] and machine guns was felt by the Chinese to be of peculiar significance.Yuan Shikai accepted the majority of these humiliating conditions on 9 May, although he did reject the demands in Group 5. Apart from the fact that Japan already controlled the key areas of Shandong, the main reason for Yuan’s willingness to accept this document was that the Japanese government was promising support for his campaign to be recognised as emperor." by Michael Dillon