Open Door Policy Announced: America Claims China's Trade for Everyone
Secretary of State John Hay sent identical diplomatic notes to six world powers in 1899, asking them to keep China's markets open to everyone. Nobody actually agreed. But Hay announced the Open Door Policy anyway on January 2, 1900, declaring that silence meant consent. The policy kept China from being carved into exclusive European colonies and positioned the U.S. as a Pacific power for the next century. Hay never got a single written yes.
January 2, 1900
126 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on January 2
según una tradición cristiana la Virgen vino en carne mortal a Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza) a ver a Santiago cuando aún vivía en Jerusalén.
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Christian forces defeated an Ottoman Turkish army at the Battle of Kunovica in 1444, near modern-day Serbia. The victory was part of the larger Crusade of Varna…
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