The Shantung Question and Spheres of Influence.

The Shantung Question arises out of the following provision of the Peace Treaty: Germany renounces, in favor of Japan, all her rights, title and privileges, particularly those concerning the territory of Kiaochow, railways, mines, and submarine cables, which she acquired in virtue of the treaty concluded by her with China on March 6, 1898. The "rights, title and privileges" in question are exclusively those which Germany had, on China's domestic territory and within the sphere of its sovereignty, by treaty with China and by arrangements with the other states having influence in China.