Twenty-One Demands

Japan would keep the former German areas it had conquered at the start of World War I in 1914 and would be strong in Manchuria and South Mongolia while having an expanded role in railways.

Ambassador Hioki Eki delivered the list to President Yuan Shikai of the Beiyang government in a private audience on 18 January 1915,[4][5][6][7] with warnings of dire consequences if China were to reject them.

The Chinese government attempted to stall for as long as possible and leaked the full contents of the Twenty-One Demands to European powers in the hope that due to a perceived threat to their own political and economic spheres of interest, they would help contain Japan.

After China rejected Japan's revised proposal on 26 April 1915, the genrō intervened and deleted ‘Group 5’ from the document, as these had proved to be the most objectionable to the Chinese government.

[10] Katō Takaaki publicly admitted that the ultimatum was invited by Yuan to save face with the Chinese people in conceding to the Demands.

American Minister Paul Reinsch reported to the US State Department that the Chinese were surprised at the leniency of the ultimatum, as it demanded much less than they had already committed themselves to concede.

[citation needed] On the other hand, the United States expressed strongly negative reactions to Japan's rejection of the Open Door Policy.

This, in turn, provoked ill-will from the United States government, as well as widespread hostility within China; a large-scale boycott against Japanese goods was just one effect.