Concessions on the Yalu River are forest concessions on the Yalu River on the border between China and Korea , obtained on September 9, 1896 [1] from the Korean government by Vladivostok merchant Julius Briner for a period of 20 years. Concessions on the Yalu River as one of the factors of Russian penetration into Korea extremely irritated Japan and served as one of the causes of the Russian-Japanese war [2] .
History
In 1901, the concession was sold to the Russian Timber Partnership, for which Alexander Bezobraz stood. One of the active investors in the Russian concession activity on Yalu was Khabarovsk Chinese, a Russian subject N. I. Tifontai (Ji Fengtai). [3]
By creating a concession on Korean territory, the Russian ruling circles were pursuing not only and not so much economic goals as political, seeking to prevent Korea from becoming the zone of exclusive influence of Japan. The note prepared for the meeting in Tsarskoye Selo (with the participation of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of War) on March 21 (April 3), 1903, stated:
For Russia ... the almost exclusive deployment of the Japanese in Korea would obviously be undesirable. It was necessary to obtain for Russia such large private commercial interests in Korea, the protection of which would give us the right to interfere in Korean affairs and, thus, to establish a counterbalance to Japanese influence. [four]
In 1903, the Russian government stepped up the development of concessions, in particular by introducing from 300 to 600 soldiers dressed in civilian clothes. The tasks of Russian soldiers, in addition to logging, also included the construction of military roads. In May 1903, about a hundred soldiers were introduced to the village of Yongampo, located at the mouth of the Yalu River, under the pretext of building timber depots there. By December 1903, barracks, a stable and a pier were erected in the village. This activity went beyond the ordinary commercial and was perceived in Britain and Japan as an attempt by Russia to consolidate its military presence in the north of Korea [5] [6] .
By the end of 1903, the concessions on the right bank of the Yalu had time to harvest forests for 3 million rubles.
Transfer of concessions to foreigners
On July 7 (20), 1906, all rights of the Russian Timber Association were transferred to the Americans, including:
- the contract for the development of the Fushun mines in Manchuria, concluded in July 1901;
- a contract for the development of Kvantun gold deposits, silver deposits and forest resources on the right bank of the Yalu;
- The contract for the development of mineral wealth of the Pyongyang province, concluded in 1898. NG Matyunin, the former charge d'affaires of Russia in Korea , in 1902 obtained the rights to this concession from baron Gabriel Ginzburg , after which he handed over to the Russian timber industry partnership;
- contract for the development of forest wealth in the border of Korea and Manchuria, as well as on the island of Dagelet . [7]
Notes
- ↑ Dean Alexander Arnold, “American Economic Enterprises in Korea, 1895–1939” page 86, Ayer Publishing, 1976, ISBN 0405092644, 9780405092640
- ↑ Bezobrazovskaya clique - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
- ↑ AVPRI, f. 150 (Japanese. Table), op. 493, d. 133, l. 36
- ↑ AVPRI (Ross. Imperia Foreign Policy Archive), t. 150 (Japanese table), op. 493, d. 133 (1898–1899, 1903–1906), l. 39
- ↑ SCM Paine, "Imperial rivals: China, Russia, and their disputed frontier", p. 238; ME Sharpe 1996, ISBN 1563247240
- ↑ Eugene Staley. War and the Private Investor, Chapter 3 . - New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1935.
- ↑ AVPRI, f. 150 (Japanese. Table), op. 493, d. 133, l. 36-38.
Literature
- Kuropatkin A. N. The Russian-Japanese War, 1904-1905: Results of the war . - 2nd ed. - SPb. : Polygon, 2002. - 525 p. - ISBN 5-89173-155-X .
- Levitsky N. A. The Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 - M .: Eksmo, Isografus, 2003. - 672 p. - ISBN 5-7921-0612-6 .
- Asakawa, Kanʼichi. The Russo-Japanese conflict, issues . - Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1904.
- Eugene Staley. War and the Private Investor, Chapter 3 . - New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1935.
- David MacLaren McDonald. United States and foreign policy in Russia, 1900-1914. - Harvard University Press, 1992. - ISBN 0674922395 .
- G. Patrick March. Eastern destiny: - Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. - 273 p. - ISBN 0275956482 , 9780275956486.
- Lukoyanov I. V. “Russia in the Far East at the End of the 19th - the Beginning of the 20th Century: Struggle for the Choice of the Political Course”, dissertation author's abstract for the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences, St. Petersburg, 2009 (not available link)