When other Western powers saw the privileges Britain had gained, they sent emissaries to Beijing to request in no uncertain terms the same privileges for their merchants. Fair is fair. Over the course of several decades, similar terms were indeed secured by the United States, France, Russia, and others. None of these powers claimed to have overthrown the Qing government. Officially, China was still a mighty Asian empire ruled by its own longtime dynasty. It’s just that various Westerners could now exercise their right to trade freely in this territory—a right that was, within their own network
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Capitalism forced on other countries
