Editing Twenty-One Demands (section)

== Initial negotiations ==
[[File:Eki Hioki1.jpg|right|135px|thumb|Eki Hioki (日置益)]]
Japan, under [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Ōkuma Shigenobu]] and [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Minister]] [[Katō Takaaki]], drafted the initial list of Twenty-One Demands, which were reviewed by the ''[[genrō]]'' and [[Emperor Taishō]], and approved by the [[Diet of Japan|Diet]]. Ambassador [[:ja:日置益|Hioki Eki]] delivered the list to President [[Yuan Shikai]] of the [[Beiyang government]] in a private audience on 18 January 1915,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Minohara |first1=Tosh |last2=Hon |first2=Tze-ki |last3=Dawley |first3=Evan |title=The Decade of the Great War: Japan and the Wider World in the 1910s |date=2014 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-27427-3 |page=191 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWi7AwAAQBAJ&q=Hioki+Eki+18+January+1915&pg=PA191 |access-date=16 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dillon |first1=Michael |title=China: A Modern History |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85772-164-8 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bNuRDwAAQBAJ&q=Hioki+Eki+18+January+1915&pg=PA154 |access-date=16 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Best |first1=Antony |last2=Frattolillo |first2=Oliviero |title=Japan and the Great War |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-54674-6 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K23eCgAAQBAJ&q=Hioki+Eki+18+January+1915&pg=PA46 |access-date=17 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hsü |first1=Immanuel C. Y. |title=The rise of modern China |year=1970 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |page=582 |url=https://archive.org/details/riseofmodernchin00hs/page/582/mode/2up?q=January+18 |access-date=17 January 2021}}</ref> with warnings of dire consequences if China were to reject them.

The Twenty One Demands were divided into five groups:<ref>Nish, (1977) pp 98–99</ref>

* Group 1 (four demands) confirmed Japan's recent seizure of German ports and operations in [[Shandong Province]], and expanded Japan's sphere of influence over the railways, coasts and major cities of the province.
* Group 2 (seven demands) pertained to Japan's [[South Manchuria Railway Zone]], extending the leasehold over the territory for 99 years, and expanding Japan's sphere of influence in southern Manchuria and eastern [[Inner Mongolia]], to include rights of settlement and [[extraterritoriality]], appointment of financial and administrative officials to the government and priority for Japanese investments in those areas.  Japan demanded access to Inner Mongolia for raw materials, as a manufacturing site, and as a strategic buffer against Russian encroachment in Korea.<ref>Li Narangoa,  "Japanese Geopolitics and the Mongol Lands, 1915–1945," ''European Journal of East Asian Studies'' (2004) 3#1 pp 45–67</ref> 
* Group 3 (two demands) gave Japan control of the Han-Ye-Ping ([[Hanyang District|Hanyang]], [[Daye]], and [[Pingxiang]]) mining and metallurgical complex in central China; it was deep in debt to Japan.  
* Group 4 (one demand) barred China from giving any further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers.<!--The Japanese Government and the Chinese Government, with the object of effectively preserving the territorial integrity of China, agree to the following article: The Chinese Government engage not to cede or lease to any other Power any harbour or bay on or any island along the coast of China.-->
* Group 5 (seven demands) was the most aggressive. China was to hire Japanese advisors who could take effective control of China's finance and police. Japan would be empowered to build three major railways, and also Buddhist temples and schools. Japan would gain effective control of [[Fujian]], across the [[Taiwan Strait]] from [[Japanese Taiwan|Taiwan]], which had been ceded to Japan in 1895.

Knowing the negative reaction "Group 5" would cause, Japan initially tried to keep its contents secret. The Chinese government attempted to stall for as long as possible and leaked the full contents of the Twenty-One Demands to European powers in the hope that due to a perceived threat to their own political and economic spheres of interest, they would help contain Japan.