Abstract:

Though the Royal Navy first arrived in China to protect East India Company shipping during globalised European conflicts, the superior technology and skill of British warships and sailors also served as a safeguard against Chinese piracy, which flourished in the nineteenth century. This became particularly important to the British after the colonisation of Hong Kong, which largely relied on maritime trade, and the opening of the first treaty ports after the first Opium War (1839-1842). In protecting maritime trade from pirates, the raison d’être for the British presence in China, the Royal Navy acted in British imperial interests. However, limited knowledge of the China coast and the nature of Chinese piracy meant British warships often relied on the information and guidance of Chinese officials in actions against pirates. Furthermore, due to strains on the criminal justice system in Hong Kong, naval officers often preferred to hand captured pirates over to Chinese officials for trial and punishment. In this regard, the Royal Navy also acted on behalf of the interests of the Qing Empire. By coordinating with Chinese officials in the suppression of piracy, the Royal Navy was doing the work of both the British and Qing imperial governments. This paper seeks to explore this dual role of the Royal Navy on the China coast in the nineteenth century and consider its implications.

Biography:

Nathan Kwan is currently a PhD student in a joint programme between the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong and the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London. His research is supervised by Profs. Ashley Jackson (KCL) and John Carroll (HKU). His thesis discusses Sino-British interactions in suppressing piracy in China in the nineteenth century, focusing on the cooperation and discussions between British naval and colonial officials and Chinese mandarins and the implications for both sides’ understanding and negotiation of international law and maritime sovereignty on the China coast.

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