ich she had concluded with China. At the
same time she expressly and spontaneously disclaimed the intention of
keeping that territory for herself. Baron Makino said at the Peace
Table:

"The acquisition of territory belonging to one nation which it is the
intention of the country acquiring it to exploit to its sole advantage
is not conducive to amity or good-will." Japan, although by the fortune
of war Germany's heir to Kiaochow, did not purpose retaining it for the
remaining term of the lease; she had, in fact, already promised to
restore it to China. She maintained, however, that the conditions of
retrocession should form the subject of a general settlement between
Tokio and Peking.

The Chinese delegation, which worked vigorously and indefatigably and
won over a considerable number of backers, argued that Kiaochow had
ceased to belong to Germany on the day when China declared war on that
state, inasmuch as all their treaties, including the lease of Kiaochow,
were abrogated by that declaration, and the ownership of every rood of
Chinese territory held by Germany reverted in law to China, and should
therefore be handed over to her, and not to Japan. To this plea Baron
Makino returned the answer that with the surrender of Tsingtao to Japan
in 1914[249] the whole imperial German protectorates of Shantung had
passed to that Power, China being still a neutral. Consequently the
entry of China into the war in 1917 could not affect the status of the
province which already belonged to Nippon by right of conquest. As a
matter of alleged fact, this capture of the protectorates by the
Japanese had been specially desired by the British government, in order
to prevent Germany from ceding it to China. If that move meant
anything, therefore, it meant that neither China nor Germany had or
could have any hold on the territory once it was captured by Japan.
Further, this conquest was effected at the cost of vast sums of money
and two thousand Japanese lives.

Nor was that all. In the year 1915[250] China signed an agreement with
Japan, undertaking "to recognize all matters that may be agreed upon
between the Japanese government and the German government respecting the
disposition of all the rights, interests, and concessions which, in
virtue of treaties or otherwise, Germany possesses _vis-a-vis_ China, in
relation to the province of Shantung." This treaty, the Chinese
delegates answered, was extorted by force. Japan, having vainly s