Did Yuan Shikai sign Article 21?

Jurisprudence analysis: Beiyang government announced that it accepted some requirements of items 1 to 4 of Article 21 on the grounds of "insufficient national strength and difficulty in meeting each other".

Legal basis: Article 2 1

No.1 asked China to recognize that Japan inherited all German rights and interests in Shandong; Shandong Province shall not be ceded or leased to other countries; Allow Japan to build a railway from Yantai (or Longkou) to Ji Jiao Road; Major cities in Shandong are open to commercial ports. In fact, we should turn Shandong into a Japanese sphere of influence to prepare for the partition of China.

No.2 asked China to recognize Japanese special rights in Nanman and eastern Inner Mongolia. The Japanese have the privilege of living (in fact, unrestricted immigration) and operating railways and mines, and no other powers are allowed to interfere; The leases of Lushun and Dalian and Nanman and Anfeng railways were extended to 99 years. The Japanese attempt to turn northeast China and Inner Mongolia into their own colonies can be described as deliberate.

No.3 * * * 2, it is required to change Hanyeping Company into a Sino-Japanese joint venture company. The Chinese side shall not handle it by itself, and personnel outside the company shall not mine nearby.

Circular 4 requires that all coastal ports and islands in China shall not be leased or transferred to other countries. In other words, China became a Japanese protectorate.