Paper short abstract:

Hayashi Gonsuke served as Japan's minister in Peking twice, once to the Qing Empire and then to the newly-founded Republic. Although he argued for autonomous Chinese state formation from within, his work in practice failed to dispel suspicions about his allegedly imperialist agenda.

Paper long abstract:

In Hayashi Gonsuke's (1860-1939) long diplomatic career spanning nearly four decades, his postings as Minister of Japan to China do not seem to merit special attention. After six years spent in Korea, during which he played an important role in making Korea a protectorate of Japan, his subsequent post of less than two years as a minister to the Qing Empire from 1906 to 1908 would appear to be a mere transitory phase. Equally, the two years of his second posting to Peking, as a Minister to the Republic of China from 1916 to 1918, seem like a short transition between longer postings to Italy and to Great Britain.

Yet, Hayashi served as Japan's minister at Peking during crucial times for China as well as for Sino-Japanese relations. This paper intends to shed light on these short but important phases of Hayashi's life by tracing his role in shaping Sino-Japanese relations and his part in the China's transition to a constitutional mode of government. Using Japanese, Chinese and European sources, this paper plans to show the complexities of Japanese diplomacy in China in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Serving in Peking during the last years of Manchu rule and then in the first years of the Republic, Minister Hayashi tried to foster contacts with as many Chinese leaders as possible amidst a volatile political environment. Tending to be "oysterlike secretive" towards his European counterparts, Hayashi was well aware of the special position of Sino-Japanese relations, and argued for a policy by which Japan would act as a kind of mentor for the modernisation of China. In his view, the building of a modern Chinese nation-state should take place from within, following an autonomous line of development. However, he was also operating under difficult conditions, and in practice his work can be seen to be have been ambiguous. The signals he sent were inconsistent, and he was unable to dispel suspicions about his underlying intentions, in particular doubts that he was actually promoting the interests of Japanese imperialism.