Concessions and leases in international relations

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In international relations, a concession is a "synallagmatic act by which a State transfers the exercise of rights or functions proper to itself to a foreign private test which, in turn, participates in the performance of public functions and thus gains a privileged position vis-a-vis other private law subjects within the jurisdiction of the State concerned."^[1] International concessions are not defined in international law and do not generally fall under it. Rather, they are governed by the municipal law of the conceding state. There may, however, be a law of succession for such concessions, whereby the concession is continued even when the conceding state ceases to exist.^[1]

In international law, a lease is "an arrangement whereby territory is leased or pledged by the owner-State to another State. In such cases, sovereignty is, for the term of the lease, transferred to the lessee State."^[2] The term "international lease" is sometimes also used to describe any leasing of property by one state to another or to a foreign national, but the normal leasing of property, as in diplomatic premises, is governed by municipal, not international, law. Sometimes the term "quasi-international lease" is used for leases between states when less than full sovereignty over a territory is involved. A true international lease, or "political" lease, involves the transfer of sovereignty for a specified period of time. Although they may have the same character as cessions, the terminability of such leases is now fully accepted.^[2]

American concessions

• In 1850, the United States and Brunei signed a commercial treaty, which was activated in 1865. Out of this agreement, C.L. Moses, the then US First Consul to the sultanate, was able to secure a lease of a large territorial concession in North Borneo, founding the American Trading Company of Borneo.^[3]
• Panama Canal Zone: territory in Panama obtained under the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty in 1903. Returned to full Panaminian control in 1999 after the signing of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties in 1977.
• Guantanamo Bay: leased from Cuba (which now disputes the lease) under 1903 and 1934 treaties in perpetuity; no civilian administration, only military command.
• Corn Islands: leased from Nicaragua for 99 years under the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty. Returned in 1970 after the treaty was annulled.
• Pituffik Space Base: a concession granted to the United States rent free by Denmark in perpetuity pursuant to the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement which provides that the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the area in question.^[4]
• Two in imperial China:
  • 1848/54 American concession in Shanghai (since 17 November 1843 a Treaty Port) established, until on 21 September 1863 (after the 1862 Proposal to make Shanghai an independent "free city" was rejected) an International Settlement in Shanghai was created by union of the American and British concessions (consummated December 1863).
  • American concession of Tianjin (Tientsin).
• The numerous cemeteries and monuments administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. These are located in Belgium, Cuba, France, Gibraltar, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Panama, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, South Korea, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom. The most popular sites among these are the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France and the John F. Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede, United Kingdom.

Austro-Hungarian concession holders

• The
  Treaty of Saint-Germain) and Hungary in 1920 respectively (Treaty of Trianon
  ).

• The Guatemalan parliament issued a decree on 4 May 1843 by virtue of which the district of Santo Tomas was given "in perpetuity" to the Compagnie belge de colonisation, a private Belgian company under the protection of King Leopold I. Belgian colonizing efforts ceased after a few years, due to the lack of financial means and the harsh climate.
• The
  Lado enclave, in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, leased to the Congo Free State (not a part of Belgium itself, but in a personal union with Belgium under King Leopold II
  ) (1894–1910)
• Belgian concession of Tianjin (Tientsin) (1902–1931)

British concession holders

Held by the United Kingdom

• On 9 June 1898, the New Territories (comprising areas north of Kowloon along with 230 small islands) were leased from China for 99 years as a leased territory under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. On 19 December 1984, the UK agreed to restore all of Hong Kong—including the territories ceded in perpetuity—to China on 1 July 1997.
• On 20 November 1846, a British concession in Shanghai (in China) was established (after the 16 June 1842 – 29 August 1842 British occupation of Shanghai, since 17 November 1843 a Treaty Port); on 27 November 1848, this concession was expanded, but on 21 September 1863 (after the 1862 proposal to make Shanghai an independent "free city" was rejected) an International Settlement in Shanghai was created by union of the American and British concessions (consummated in December 1863).
• On 29 December 1877, representants of
  Sultan of Sulu, further negotiations were needed. With the assistance of William Clark Cowie, a Scottish adventurer and friend of Sultan Jamal-ul Azam of Sulu, the Sultan signed a concession treaty on 22 January 1878 and received 5,000 Spanish dollars.^[6]
• The
  Hankou (Hankow). The local management was entrusted to a municipal council organized on lines similar to those at Shanghai.^[7]
• The British concession on the
  Shamian Island (Shameen Island) in Guangzhou
  (Canton).
• British India
  .

• Treaty Ports (Ireland)

Privately held

• Matabele kingdom
  .

Canadian concessions

Following the

• The
  Treaty Port since 17 November 1843). On 17 July 1854 a Municipal Council established. The concession was relinquished by Vichy France
  to a Japan-sponsored puppet government in China, and was formally returned to China by France in 1946.
• French concession of Tianjin (1860–1946)
• French Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan (1898–1945)
• French concession of Hankou (Hankow; 1898–1946; now part of Wuhan)
• The
  Guangzhou
  (Canton) (1861–1946)

Finnish concessions

• Saimaa Canal: leased from Russia under 1963 and 2010 treaties in period of 50 years; civilian and commercial administration

German concessions

All in China:

• On 6 March 1898,
  Republic of China canceled the German lease. The concession was occupied by Japan
  on 7 November 1914.
• German concession of Tianjin (Tientsin)
• One of the concessions in
  Hankou (Hankow; now a part of Wuhan
  )

• The
  Qing China on 7 September 1901. It was administered by Italy's Consul
  and had a population of 6,261 in 1935, including 536 foreigners.
• Several ships of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) were based at Tianjin. During World War II, the primary Italian vessels based at Tianjin were the minelayer Lepanto and the gunboat Carlotto.
• On 10 September 1943, the Italian concession at Tianjin was occupied by
  peace treaty, the zone was formally returned to Nationalist China by the Italian Republic
  .

• the Japanese concession of Tianjin (Tientsin).
• the only non-Western concession in
  Hankou (Hankow; today a part of Wuhan
  ).

• Chinese government assumed sovereignty over Macau
  on 20 December 1999, ending 329 years of Portuguese colonial rule.
• Sultanate of Bijapur with the support of Timoji and recognized by the Raja of Cochin, Cannanore and emperor Krishnadevaraya
  .
• Nagasaki and
  Fourth National Isolation Edict) in 1636, but after Shimabara Rebellion
  , Portuguese ships are prohibited from entering Japan. Consequently, the Portuguese concessions are banished from Dejima and Japan.

• The Russian concession of Tianjin (Tientsin).
• one of the concessions of
  Hankou (Hankow; now part of Wuhan
  ).
• Hanko Peninsula, a peninsula near the Finnish capital Helsinki, was leased for a period of 30 years by the Soviet Union from its northwestern neighbour—and former possession in personal union—Finland for use as a naval base in the Baltic Sea, near the entry of the Gulf of Finland, under the Moscow Peace Treaty that ended the Winter War on 6 March 1940; during the Continuation War, Soviet troops were forced to evacuate Hanko in early December 1941, and the USSR formally renounced the lease—early given the original term until 1970—in the Paris peace treaty of 1947. The role of the Hanko naval base was replaced by Porkkalanniemi another Finnish peninsula, a bit farther east at the Gulf of Finland, in the armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union of 19 September 1944; the Porkkala naval base was returned to Finland in January 1956. In both cases, the Soviets limited themselves to a military command, without any civilian administration.
• Khmeimim Air Base in Syria is leased to the Russian government for a period of 49 years, with the Russian government having extraterritorial jurisdiction over the air base and its personnel.^[11][12]
• Since 2015 after the Donbas and Crimea invasion Russia agreed to lease 300,000 hectares to China for 50 years for $449 million US dollars. The lease can be extended in 2018 if the first stage from 2015 to 2018 was successful. Russia needed the Chinese funds to replace a shortfall caused by international sanctions.^[13][14] The Transbaikal region borders with China, and the lease agreement stirred up a maelstrom of controversy and anxiety in Russia.^[15] China will send a massive influx of Chinese workers to settle and work in the area.^[16]

Spanish concessions

• On 22 July 1878, Spanish forces operating from the
  crown of Spain in Jolo on 22 July 1878, and permitted them to set up a small garrison on Siasi Island and in the town of Jolo.^[17] These areas were only partially controlled by the Spanish, and their power was limited to only military stations and garrisons and pockets of civilian settlements. Causing Overbeck to lose his title and territory in the north-eastern areas just gained from the Sultan to the British Borneo. In 1885, Great Britain, Germany and Spain signed the Madrid Protocol to cement Spanish influence over the islands of the Philippines. In the same agreement, Spain relinquished all claim to North Borneo, which had belonged to the sultanate in the past, to the British government. Dividing Borneo in a Spanish and a British concession of the Sultanate of Sulu.^[18]
• Sultanate of Tidore established an alliance with the Spanish East Indies in the sixteenth century, and Spain had several forts on the island by concession, also conquering someones to Sultanate of Ternate (allied with Portuguese and then with Dutch East India Company).^[19]
• All of Portuguese concessions in Africa and Asia were also Spanish concessions during Iberian Union.

Jointly held concessions

• 21 September 1863 (after the 1862 Proposal to make Shanghai an independent "free city" was rejected) an
  Hongkou District
  (Hongkew), and on 9 November 1937 the Chinese city of Shanghai, but only on 8 December 1941 would Japanese troops occupy the International Settlement (but not the French concession); it was dissolved by Japan in 1942. In February 1943 the settlement is officially abolished by the U.S. and Britain; in September 1945, the last territory is restored to China.
• On January 10, 1902, the consuls of Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden-Norway, Japan and other eight countries signed the "Gulangyu delimitation charter" in the Gulangyu Japanese Consulate. Subsequently, in January 1903, the Gulangyu International Settlement Municipal Council was established.^[21]
• Beijing Legation Quarter
  : a de facto concession.
• Tangier International Zone: Under the Paris Convention, Tangier was made a neutral zone under joint administration by the participating countries (Spain, France and UK).^[22] The Paris Convention was proposed for ratification to the other powers that were party to the Algeciras Conference - except Germany, Austria and Hungary, disempowered by the peace treaties (respectively of Versailles, Saint-Germain and Trianon), and the Soviet Union, then estranged from the international system.^[23] Italy's demand to join the international framework on a par with the signatories of the Paris Convention was supported by Spain from 1926, then by the UK, and a new conference eventually started in Paris in March 1928.^[24] Then, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy joined the city government. Then, after World War II and the Spanish occupation of Tangier, a quadripartite conference (France, Soviet Union, UK and United States) met in Paris in August 1945, concluding a temporary Anglo-French Agreement of 31 August 1945, in which the two powers made arrangements for the re-establishment of the Zone's international institutional framework, inviting the United States and the Soviet Union to join it, passing both of them to be present in the city government.^[25]
• Dobruja: The Central Powers occupied all of Dobruja and, according to Treaty of Bucharest, the territory from south of Cernavodă-Constanța railroad up to the Danube and the Sfântu Gheorghe branch in a joint condominium recognized by Romania and Bulgarian states (then Bulgarian annexated it).

United Nations concessions

• UN Headquarters: United Nations headquarters in New York City. Under United States laws in exchange for local police, fire protection, and other services.
• Palace of Nations: United Nations palace/office in Geneva.
• Vienna International Centre: United Nations complex/office in Vienna.
• UN Office in Nairobi: United Nations office in Nairobi. Headquarters of UNEP and UN-Habitat.
• UN offices in Bonn: 19+ United Nations offices in Bonn.
• International Court of Justice: UN-owned court in The Hague.
• International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: UN-owned tribunal in Hamburg.
• Other UN offices

Foreign concessions in China

• Concessions in Tianjin
• Chinese Eastern Railway Zone
• Guangzhouwan
• Kiautschou Bay
• Weihaiwei under British rule
• Russian Dalian
• Kwantung Leased Territory
• Shanghai French Concession
• Shanghai International Settlement
  • British Concession (Shanghai)
  • American Concession (Shanghai)

See also

• Chartered companies
• Colonization
• Timeline of national independence

References

Citations