Sino-American New Equal Treaty

The Sino-American New Equal Treaty or the Sino-American Treaty for Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China was a bilateral treaty signed by the United States and the Republic of China on January 11, 1943. The formal name of the treaty was Treaty Between the United States of America and the Republic of China for the Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China and the Regulation of Related Matters. It became effective on May 20, 1943 following the mutual exchange of ratifications pursuant to Article VIII.

After the United States declared war upon Japan on Dec. 8, 1941, the governments of the United States and United Kingdom mutually decided that it would be advantageous to end extraterritoriality and the unilateral privileges in China that had been granted by the "unequal treaties." Extraterritoriality was thus ended, making citizens of the United States and United Kingdom in China subject to Chinese law, as well as the existence of treaty ports and their autonomous foreign settlements, legation quarters, and the right to station foreign warships in Chinese waters and foreign troops on Chinese territory.

In close coordination with the United States, the United Kingdom and China also established a corresponding treaty which served essentially the same purpose and was concluded on the same day known as the Sino-British New Equal Treaty.

After war was declared between the United States and Japan in December, 1941, the United States became China's ally but could not send military aid on the large scale needed. Japanese officials justified their conquests by claiming that Japan was liberating Asia from Western imperialism and that Westerners were racist and exploitative. A high official in the U.S. Department of State warned that "the Chinese are becoming increasingly disappointed and resentful" and that some Chinese were "beginning to talk of the possibility of China ceasing to be an active belligerent..." Former U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, although not in the inner circle on policy toward China, turned his attention to negotiating a treaty to end the privileges granted over the previous century. The treaty passed the United States Senate unanimously.

...
Wikipedia