ABSTRACT
On 14 March 1917, China broke with Germany, and then on 14 August 1917, declared war. Tokyo foresaw the problems that China’s actions might cause to Japan’s position in Shandong, however, and so in early 1917 signed secret agreements with Great Britain, France, Italy, and Russia. 1 After the war, peace negotiations were held in Paris. Great Britain and France had concluded separate agreements with Japan which supported her rights. As Lloyd George was quick to point out, these obligations could not simply be ignored, since “the war had been partly undertaken in order to establish the sanctity of treaties.” This meant that so far as Great Britain was concerned, “they had a definite engagement with Japan, as recorded in the note of the British Ambassador at Tokyo, dated 18th February 1917.” 2
