At the Washington Conference in 1922,the foreign powers forced China to sign the Nine-Power Treaty,Article 5 of which stipulated the implementation of equal freight rates in China's railways.To maintain the right of setting railway freight rates,the Beiyang government repeatedly stated that Chinese railways would not impose differential freight rates on foreign goods,which provided a certain legal basis for China to formulate different freight rates for Chinese and foreign goods in the future.Since then,the Beiyang government imposed lower freight rates on Chinese goods transported via the state-owned railway than on foreign goods in order to protect the development of national industry and commerce.Foreign powers accused China of violating Article 5 of the Nine-Power Treaty.They asked China to implement the same freight rates for both Chinese and foreign goods,and kept negotiating for the above-mentioned purpose.However,until the rule of the Beiyang government ended in 1928,the goal of the foreign powers was still not achieved.The negotiation between China and foreign countries around the interpretation of Article 5 of the Nine-Power Treaty is in essence a struggle of China to maintain its right of setting railway freight rates under the Washington system.
Railway Freight RateNine-Power TreatyWashington ConferenceOpen Door PolicyBeiyang Government
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
