The Paris Peace Conference and China’s Diplomacy

The Chinese government and people had great expectations for the Paris Peace Conference that officially ended World War I. They hoped that by participating in the conference, they could regain national power and abolish the corresponding unequal treaties. In the preparation for the proposal to be presented at the peace conference, the recovery of Qingdao and the Qingdao-Jinan Railway occupied by Japan was not listed as a priority because it was taken for granted. At the Paris Peace Conference, China put forward legitimate demands to regain Qingdao and the Qingdao-Jinan Railway. Due to the lack of support from the United States and Britain, these demands ended in failure, which directly led to the outbreak of the May Fourth patriotic movement domestically. The vigorous growth of nationalism within the country exerted immense pressure on the Chinese delegation. As a result, the Chinese delegation refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles with Germany.