Racial Equality Proposal, 1919

The Racial Equality Proposal was an amendment to the treaty under consideration at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference offered by the Empire of Japan. Though broadly supported, it did not become part of the Treaty of Versailles, largely because of the opposition of Australia and the United States.

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.

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."

Then, Makino Nobuaki, the career diplomat who headed the Japanese delegation, announced at a press conference: "We are not too proud to fight but we are too proud to accept a place of admitted inferiority in dealing with one or more of the associated nations. We want nothing but simple justice."

The proposal was also problematic for U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who need the votes of segregation Southern Democrats if to succeed in getting the votes needed for the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty. Strong opposition from the British Empire delegations gave him a pretext to reject the proposal.

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