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The Racial Equality Proposal was a proposal put forward at the Paris Peace Conference by the Empire of Japan in 1919. ==The proposal== After the end of seclusion in the 1850s, Japan signed unequal treaties (so-called the Ansei Treaties) but soon came to demand equal status with the Western powers. Correcting inequality became the most urgent international issue of the Meiji government. In this context, the Japanese delegation to the Paris peace conference proposed the "racial equality clause" in the Covenant of the League of Nations. The first draft was presented to the League of Nations Commission on 13 February as an amendment to Article 21: The equality of nations being a basic principle of the League of Nations, the High Contracting Parties agree to accord as soon as possible to all alien nationals of states, members of the League, equal and just treatment in every respect making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality. The Japanese delegation did not realize the full ramifications of their proposal, since its adoption would have challenged aspects of the established norms of the (Western dominated) international system of the day, which involved the colonial rule over non-white peoples. The Japanese delegation believed it was asking only that the League of Nations should accept the equality of Japanese nationals; however, a universalist meaning and implication of the proposal became attached to it within the delegation, which drove its contentiousness at the conference.〔Shimazu, p. 115.〕 Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes clarified his opposition and announced at a meeting that ''ninety-five out of one hundred Australians rejected the very idea of equality.''〔Kajima, Diplomacy of Japan p. 405 as cited in Lauren, p. 90〕 Then, Makino Nobuaki announced at a press conference.
The proposal was also problematic for U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who knew he was dependent on pro-segregation Southern Democrats if he was to have any hope of getting the two-thirds majority needed to ratify the final treaty in the United States Senate. The presence of such strong opposition from the British Empire delegations was undoubtedly a relief to Wilson as it gave him a pretext to reject the proposal. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Racial Equality Proposal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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