ABSTRACT
France became a full partner in all of this, guarding and expanding its interest in southern China. In early 1897, when the Anglo-Chinese Agreement of February of that year was finalised, it gained a guarantee from China that the island of Hainan (which, some had speculated at the time of the Sino-French War of 1884-85, the French would claim after victory) and its adjacent coast would not be ceded or leased to another power; a promise that was not put into writing, probably to prevent other powers from coming to similar arrangements (Scott 1885: 329; Chandran 1977: 260). The following year, this time in reaction to the loan Great Britain and Germany were to provide to China to pay its war indemnity to Japan, France sought a pledge from China that Keng Hung, and Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong would not be ceded or leased to another power. 1 The Anglo-Russian Agreement Respecting Spheres of Influence in China of April 1899 also called for a reaction. The French Foreign Office drafted a proposal for a French sphere of influence in China to serve as a starting point for negotiations with London. The region France had in mind consisted of East and South Yunnan, Guangxi and East Guangdong. Guangdong’s capital Guangzhou should have a neutral status (Chandran 1977: 303).
