Editing Boxer Protocol (section)

== Spending and remittance ==
On December 28, 1908, the United States remitted $11,961,121.76 of its share of the Indemnity to support the [[Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program|education of Chinese students in the United States]] and the construction of [[Qinghua University|Tsinghua University]] in Beijing,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Elleman|first1=Bruce A.|title=Diplomacy and deception : the secret history of Sino-Soviet diplomatic relations, 1917–1927|date=1998|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|location=Armonk (N.Y.)|isbn=0765601435|page=144}}</ref> thanks to the efforts of the Chinese ambassador [[Liang Cheng]].<ref name="culturalchina">{{cite web | url=http://history.cultural-china.com/en/47History11546.html | title=Liang Cheng, The "Diplomatic Hero" | work=Cultural China | publisher=Shanghai News and Press Bureau | access-date=November 22, 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023161302/http://history.cultural-china.com/en/47History11546.html | archive-date=October 23, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

When China declared war on Germany and Austria in 1917, it suspended the combined German and Austrian share of the Boxer Indemnity, which totaled 20.91 percent. At the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], Beijing succeeded in completely revoking the German and Austrian shares of the Boxer Indemnity.<ref>{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=145}}</ref>

The history surrounding Russia's share of the Boxer Indemnity is the most complex of all the nations involved. On December 2, 1918, the Bolsheviks issued an official decree abolishing Russia's share of the Indemnity (146). Upon the arrival of [[Lev Karakhan]] in Beijing during the fall of 1923, however, it became clear that the [[Soviet Union]] expected to retain control over how the Russian share was to be spent. Though Karakhan was initially hesitant to follow the United States' example of directing the funds toward education, he soon insisted in private that the Russian share had to be used for that purpose and, during February 1924, presented a proposal stating that the "Soviet portion of the Boxer Indemnity would be allocated to Chinese educational institutions."<ref>{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=147}}</ref> On March 14, 1924, Karakhan completed a draft Sino-Soviet agreement stating, "The government of the USSR agrees to renounce the Russian portion of the Boxer Indemnity." Copies of these terms were published in the Chinese press, and the positive public reaction encouraged other countries to match the USSR's terms. On May 21, 1924, the U.S. Congress agreed to remit the final $6,137,552.90 of the American share to China. Ten days later, however, it became apparent that the USSR did not intend to carry through on its earlier promise of full renunciation. When the final Sino-Soviet agreement was announced, it specified that Russia's share would be used to promote education in China and that the Soviet government would retain control over how the money was to be used, an exact parallel to the U.S. remittance of 1908.<ref>{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=148}}</ref>

On March 3, 1925, Great Britain completed arrangements to use its share of the Boxer Indemnity to support railway construction in China. On April 12, France asked that its indemnity be used to reopen a defunct Sino-French Bank. Italy signed an agreement on October 1 to spend its share on the construction of steel bridges. The Netherlands' share paid for harbor and land reclamation. The Netherlands also used its indemnity for the establishment of the Sinological Institute at [[Leiden University]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Idema|first1=Wilt|title=Chinese Studies in the Netherlands: Past, Present and Future|date=2013|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-26312-3|page=77}}</ref> The Belgian funds were earmarked to be spent on railway material in Belgium. Finally, Japan's indemnity was transferred to develop aviation in China under Japanese oversight.<ref>{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=154}}</ref> Once these countries' approximately 40 percent of the Boxer Indemnity was added to Germany's and Austria's combined 20.9 percent, the United States' 7.3 percent, and the Soviet Union's 29.0 percent share, the Beijing government had accounted for over 98 percent of the entire Boxer Indemnity. Hence, by 1927, Beijing had almost entirely revoked Boxer Indemnity payments abroad and successfully redirected the payments for use within China.<ref>{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=155}}</ref>