Italy-China Trade Relations by Donatella Strangio

Italy-China Trade Relations by Donatella Strangio

Author:Donatella Strangio
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030390846
Publisher: Springer International Publishing


5.2 San Mun Bay (Sān Mén Xiàn): The Idea of an “Italian” Territory in China

The 1894–95 war between China and Japan marked the beginning of a new era in the relations between China and the other powers. Starting from 1898, they asked to rent territories and to acquire concessions, such as the bay of Kiao-ciau for Germany , the peninsula of Liaotung for the Russians and the bay of Kwang-chow for the French. Italy could not remain indifferent to such events, and discussions began and opinions were formed in Italy at both parliamentary level and among the general public. On 16 February, the undersecretary Lelio Bonin Longare declared that the King’s Government would be wary of any adventurous policy that might create dangers and disappointments for Italy, but would continue to promote and increase Italy’s trade in the Far East (Borsa 1961, 75).

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Visconti Venosta, adopted a bolder stance and believed that in order to consolidate its political and commercial interests, Italy would have to engage in direct action similar to that of the other powers.

To this end, the government sent a warship, the Marco Polo , to the Far East in order to guard and protect Italian interests. It also sent one of its best Italian diplomats, the Commendatore (Knight Commander) Renato De Martino and studied various forms of funding to enhance consular activity; it also pushed Italian industrial representatives to set up trade missions in China in order to understand the potential of the Chinese market for Italian exports.

Yet Visconti Venosta did not stop here; he was aware of Italy’s weak position in China compared with the other powers and began to consider the idea of occupying a coastal location. The minister appointed the Marquis Salvago Raggi , chargé d’affaires in Peking , to write a report on the possibility of occupying a direct port of call in China. He wondered above all what the Chinese reaction might be, what the best area for Italy to request was and what the diplomatic responses were likely to be to Italy’s request (Borsa 1961, 77). The government had not indicated any particular location or any specific interest to be safeguarded; in addition, neither Raggi nor his team had any broad economic, political or geographical knowledge of China.

The report delivered by Raggi , and drafted in the field by Naval Commander Incoronato, suggested occupying the port of Samsa instead of that of San Mun (Sān Mén Xiàn), which would require huge sums of money. Fearing that the other powers would refuse Italy’s request, the smallest bay was chosen, that of San Mun , which opened onto the populous and wealthy region of Chekiang : it was about a third of the size of Italy and had 12 million inhabitants (Coco 2017a; b, 185–214). It had not been occupied by other foreign powers because it would be very difficult to make it into a maritime and trade centre, since the bay was a long way from the main communication routes and a long way from the large economic hubs such as Canton and Shanghai .



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