peace treaty (Deutsch-chinesischer Vertrag zur Wiederherstellung des Friedenszustandes), considered the first equal treaty between China and a European nation. Many of the other treaties China considers unequal were repealed during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which started in 1937 and merged into the larger context of World War II. The United States Congress ended American extraterritoriality in December 1943. Significant examples outlasted World War II: treaties regarding Hong Kong remained in place until Hong Kong's 1997 handover, though in 1969, to improve Sino-Soviet relations in the wake of military skirmishes along their border, the People's Republic of China was forced to reconfirm the 1858 Treaty of Aigun and 1860 Treaty of Peking. Japan and Korea When the American Commodore Matthew C. Perry reached Japan in 1854, the country signed the Convention of Kanagawa. Its importance was limited. Much more important was the Harris Treaty of 1858 negotiated by U.S. envoy Townsend Harris. Korea's first unequal treaty was not with the West but instead with Japan. The Ganghwa Island incident, 1875, saw Japan send Captain Inoue Yoshika and the warship Un'yō with the implied threat of military action to coerce the Korean Kingdom of Joseon. This forced Korea to open its doors to Japan by signing the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876. The unequal treaties ended at various times for the countries involved. Japan's victories in the 1894–95 First Sino-Japanese War convinced many in the West that unequal treaties could no longer be enforced on Japan. Korea's unequal treaties with European states became largely null and void in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. Mongolia Selected list of treaties Imposed on China Imposed on Japan Imposed on Korea Modern uses In 2018, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad compared Chinese Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects in Malaysia to unequal treaties. He said "They know that when they lend big sums of money to a poor country, in the end they may have to take the project for themselves," and "China knows very well that it had to deal with unequal treaties in the past imposed upon China by Western powers. So China should be sympathetic toward us. They know we cannot afford this". See also Western imperialism in Asia Concessions in China List of Chinese treaty ports Sick man of Asia Century of humiliation Client state Puppet state Most favoured nation Normanton incident References Bibliography Auslin, Michael R. (2004). Negotiating with Imperialism: