The Politics of Humiliation by Ute Frevert

Author:Ute Frevert [Frevert, Ute]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192551924
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2020-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

The Berlin Kowtow Affair of 1901: Who Humiliates Whom?

The year 1901 put an end to all of that. After the Boxer Rebellion had broken out, the eight allied powers reacted with uncompromising military and political might. The Chinese government had to meet a series of draconian conditions: alongside harsh punishment for the attackers and their supporters, the allies demanded immense financial reparations—and the explicit abolition of the kowtow for diplomats. In reality, this had been a non-issue since 1873. But the Europeans, Americans, and Japanese used the situation to emphasize once again the principle of ‘perfect equality’ between sovereign states, ‘without any loss of prestige on one side or the other’.101

They were also unanimous about the first item on the list of conditions. It obligated the Chinese to apologize for the murders of the German ambassador Clemens von Ketteler and the chancellor of the Japanese delegation, Akira Sugiyama, who had both been killed during the rebellion.102 Speaking for the Germans, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Bernhard von Bülow had immediately made it clear that such an act of ‘expiation’ was a ‘question of satisfaction’ and ‘a matter of national honour’.103

Not long thereafter, Kaiser Wilhelm II received a telegram from the Chinese emperor, who ‘most deeply lamented and regretted’ Ketteler’s murder and stated that a drink offering would be made in his name. The emperor also sent the Japanese Tenno his regrets, arranged for religious ceremonies to be held for Sugiyama, and appealed to the long tradition of good relations and mutual respect between the two neighbouring countries. While the Tenno accepted the regrets ‘with satisfaction’ and advised the emperor to appoint a new government, Wilhelm II was more guarded. He replied that he could not view the drink offering as ‘expiation’ for the ‘misdeed’ and made further demands.104

Fig. 18. Caricature of Wilhelm II demanding expiation in Punch, 10 October 1900

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