Japan Declares War on Germany and Invades Shandong

Following the outbreak of the First World War, China declared its neutrality, but as Japan declared war on Germany, the maintenance of strict neutrality began to encounter challenges in terms of international law. The Japanese troops were bound. The Beijing leadership had carefully considered how to maintain its neutrality during the conflict while defining a zone for the belligerents’ military movements within the framework of a general policy of neutrality. The Japanese seized the chance to occupy the Qingdao-Jinan Railway and Qingdao, refusing to return them to China. The Beijing government started preparing for diplomatic initiatives to reclaim Qingdao and the railway.