ABSTRACT
While Japanese, Russian, and German interests were primarily in northern China, British and French interests were primarily in southern and central China. This demarcation was even spelled out in an 1899 agreement between Great Britain and Russia, in which Great Britain promised not to seek railway concessions north of the Great Wall, while Russia likewise promised not to move into the Yangzi River basin. Great Britain promised not to interfere if Russia demanded additional “concessions for railways, which, starting from the main Manchurian line in a southwesterly direction.”
