| Treaty of Peace, Amity, and Commerce between the King of Sweden and Norway and the Empire of China | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Bilateral |
| Signed | March 20, 1847 (1847-03-20) |
| Effective | October 28, 1847 (1847-10-28) |
| Parties | China and Sweden-Norway |
| Languages | Swedish and Chinese |
Full text at Wikisource | |
TheTreaty of Canton (Chinese:中瑞廣州條約,Swedish:Fördraget i Kanton) was the firstunequal treaty betweenSweden-Norway and theChinese Empire.[1] The treaty was negotiated in March 1847 byCarl Fredrik Liljevalch andQiying, theViceroy of Liangguang,[2] and was one of theunequal treaties between Western powers and China that followed theFirst Opium War.
The treaty was actually never ratified by Chinese representatives, which cast a shadow over the legality of the outcome, but nevertheless went into effect, lasting the following 60 years.[3]
Its terms, similar to the 1844Treaty of Wanghia between theUnited States and China, provided that Sweden-Norway would have the same privileges in China as other treaty powers, so-calledmost-favored-nation status.[4] Like the United States andBritish Empire before it, commercial access was granted to the fivetreaty ports ofCanton (Guangzhou),Amoy,Fuzhou,Ningbo andShanghai. This was in stark contrast to previous Western relations with China, when only Canton was open for foreign trade.
Like other Western countries, extraterritorial rights was given to Sweden-Norway; jurisdiction over citizens of Sweden and Norway in the treaty ports was transferred from China to Sweden-Norway. The treaty furthermore allowed Sweden-Norway to send consuls to China, and to have its commerce being subjected to fixed tariffs only. The provisions of the treaty remained in force until the twentieth century, with a new treaty being negotiated in 1908 by Gustav Oscar Wallenberg, three years after thedissolution of Sweden-Norway.[5]
