Scramble for China: Lord Salisbury and British Policy in the Far East

Abstract

Three times Prime Minister as well as Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury (1830-1903) was the most important director of British foreign policy during the age of the New Imperialism (1870-1914). His stance in the scramble for the Eastern possessions has often been misunderstood. Focusing on his China policy, this study is intended to analyse and explain how Salisbury viewed the problem of cultural conflict, and how he treated the nationalities issues involved in British imperial expansion in the East. Points of particular emphasis in this article are, I. Salisbury's understanding of the character of the Chinese nation; 2. Salisbury's views on Britain's trade-centred policy in China; 3. dissension in the Salisbury government about China policy in the late 1890s; 4. Salisbury's response to the German and Russian encroachments upon China after 1897; 5. China’s partition into spheres of influence and the formation of the Open Door Policy; 6. Salisbury's position in the Powers' joint adventure in China following the Boxer uprising; 7. British expansion in South-East Asia at the expense of Chinese suzerainty. The author shows that Salisbury's influence had a marked effect on the character of British empire and British ascendancy in regions outside the formal empire; and that British imperialism developed further under Salisbury while keeping in balance the measures necessary to assert British interests and a modified approach to imperial enterprise that took into account alien nationality and native rights.