Commerce, Finance, and British Diplomatic Support in China, 1885-86 .

The article focuses on the situation of commerce, finance and British diplomatic support in China from 1885-1886. China, in the mid-nineteenth century, was a classic illustration; while attempting to preserve their territorial integrity and to control a serious traffic in drugs, the Chinese appeared to close the door in the face of British trade, and thereby to deny the mainstay of Britain's imperial and world position. There were already some indications prior to 1886 that the government was concerned for the future of commercial and financial interests. Despite the early awareness of the difficulties faced by British commerce or financial interests in West Africa, Persia, and Turkey, there were as yet no signs of any relaxation from the rigid principle of non-intervention in the case of China. The most influential source of commercial opinion, however, proved to be the London Chamber of Commerce. Events in Europe necessitated even more fundamental steps for the support of British interests. The political importance which became attached to loans and financial concessions in China after 1895 is, of course, well known, and Foreign Office policy of giving full diplomatic support to the strongest British syndicates in their applications for the most strategically important concessions indicates how closely politics and finance were interwoven in the late 1890's.