118-426: A transit hotel is a short-stay hotel that is situated in the transit zone of international airports , where passengers on extended waits between planes (typically a minimum of six hours) can stay while waiting for their next flight. The hotel is within the airside security/passport checkpoints and close to the airport terminals. No entry visa into the country is required to stay, although some countries require
236-496: A bonded logistics park will typically exempt a designated area from all or most customs regulations. The most extreme category of SEZ is a freeport (e.g. Luxembourg Freeport , Singapore Freeport , Geneva Freeport ), in which goods stored or transhipped are treated as never having entered the host jurisdiction. Uniquely, Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty , which recognises
354-754: A natural reserve of flora and fauna. The El Caguán Demilitarised zone was established in southern Colombia between 1999 and 2002, during the failed peace process that involved the Government of President Andrés Pastrana and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Under the Antarctic Treaty , Antarctica is administered as an international zone. The treaty forbids military activity in Antarctica, such as "the establishment of military bases and fortifications,
472-509: A port of entry is the area where arriving international passengers have not formally entered the country by clearing arrival customs and immigration controls, and departing passengers have formally exited the country by clearing exit immigration control. Sterile zones are most commonly found in international airports, while they also exist at certain seaports and land crossings. Despite their usual exemption from local immigration and customs laws, international zones at ports of entry are fully under
590-419: A visa . Some countries, however, require transit passengers of certain nationalities to hold a direct airside transit visa even when they would not need to pass through border controls. To exempt passengers transiting between international flights from clearing border controls, most international airports outside North America feature a sterile zone which only authorized employees and processed passengers with
708-810: A Canadian airport for nationals of countries other than Canada or the United States generally requires a visa or Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) except for individuals proceeding to or from the United States who qualify for the China Transit Program or Transit Without Visa Program. A common feature of sterile zones at airports and occasionally land and sea borders, duty-free shops sell products tax-free to customers who have cleared exit border controls prior to boarding and, in some places, to passengers arriving from overseas. Most countries impose limits on how much of each type of duty-free goods, may be purchased by each passenger. The airport with
826-728: A Japanese protest after 323 uncounted votes were discovered. As a result, the election was declared invalid and a new poll held on April 20–21, 1936, at which the Japanese nominated only two candidates. In the case of the Chinese members, in 1926 the Ratepayers' Meeting adopted a resolution approving the addition of three Chinese members to the council and they took their seats for the first time in April, 1928; while in May, 1930, their number
944-466: A border established unilaterally by a state for border control purposes. Many demilitarised zones are considered neutral territory because neither side is allowed to control it, even for non-combat administration. Some zones remain demilitarised after an agreement has awarded control to a state which (under the DMZ terms) had originally ceded its right to maintain military forces in the disputed territory. It
1062-552: A defending argument for the maintenance of the orchestra, and Japan, whose Viscount Konoye encouraged the Japanese people to support the orchestra and the culture that it brought to the East. In addition to the string orchestra, opera and choral music were favored forms of entertainment. Often, the orchestra would accompany singers as a part of orchestra concerts, in addition to the symphonies and other pieces that they played, or just in choral or opera concerts. The French Concession
1180-555: A judge. In 1927, a Provisional Court was established with a sole Chinese judge presiding. In 1930, Chinese Special Courts were established which had jurisdiction over all non-treaty power individuals and companies in the Settlement. Two countries, Britain and the United States, established formal court systems in China to try cases. The British Supreme Court for China and Japan was established in 1865 and located in its own building in
1298-631: A mixture of coins, including Chinese copper cash coins and Mexican dollars. Paper money was first issued by European and North American colonial banks (one British colonial bank known as the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China at one time issued banknotes in Shanghai that were denominated in Mexican dollars). Yen was used in the Japanese district of "Little Tokyo". European and North American currencies did not officially circulate in
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#17327919183881416-474: A practical monopoly over the city's businesses by the mid-1880s. It bought up all the local gas-suppliers, electricity producers and water-companies, then—during the 20th-century—took control over all non-private rickshaws and the Settlement tramways. It also regulated opium sales and prostitution until their banning in 1918 and 1920 respectively. Until the late-1920s, therefore, the SMC and its subsidiaries, including
1534-538: A reputation for tolerance, diversity of culture, religion, and bohemianism . It became a tourist hotspot for literary giants and gay men from Western countries. Many of the latter were able to live an openly "out" life in the Zone. In July 1952 the protecting powers met at Rabat to discuss the Zone's future, agreeing to abolish it. Tangier joined with the rest of Morocco following the restoration of full sovereignty in 1956. The Tomb of Suleyman Shah , grandfather of
1652-484: A separate agreement in February 1946. It was one of two Chinese international settlements, along with Gulangyu International Settlement . The Treaty of Nanking and its supplementary treaty of 1843 – the first of the so-called unequal treaties - provided British merchants with the right to reside with their families and rent grounds and houses in five ports – Guanzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Shanghai and Ningbo – but there
1770-470: A similar expansion of the French concession in 1914) was turned down by the Chinese government due to anti-imperialist sentiments. Britain, pre-occupied with World War I , did not press the issue and the extra-settlement roads area retained the "quasi-concession" status until the demise of the concession. Parts of the northern extra-settlement roads area was allocated to Japan for defence purposes in 1927, which
1888-600: A state is also liable for damages caused by its space object. Additionally, the treaty limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes and prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military manoeuvres, or establishing military bases, installations, and fortifications (Article IV). However, the treaty does not prohibit the placement of conventional weapons in orbit, and thus some highly destructive attack tactics, such as kinetic bombardment , are still potentially allowable. Furthermore,
2006-476: A transit visa. This article about a hotel or resort is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . International zone#International zones An international zone is any area not fully subject to the border control policies of the state in which it is located. There are several types of international zones ranging from special economic zones and sterile zones at ports of entry exempt from customs rules to concessions over which administration
2124-438: A valid ticket are allowed to enter. Two major exceptions are the United States and Canada, where airports typically have no international transit zones. All passengers arriving on international flights are subject to customs and immigration inspections. Nationals of countries other than the United States and Canada at a U.S. airport requires at least a C-1 transit visa , or ESTA for eligible travellers. Meanwhile, transiting at
2242-625: Is a Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) spanning the de facto border between North Korea and South Korea . The DMZ follows the effective boundaries as of the end of the Korean War in 1953. Similarly to the Frontier Closed Area in Hong Kong, this zone and the defence apparatus that exists on both sides of the border serve to curtail unauthorised passage between the two sides. In South Korea, there is an additional fenced-off area between
2360-650: Is a territory within a state over which another state has been granted jurisdiction. During the Age of Imperialism , concessions were frequently granted to colonial or imperial powers. Notably, the United Nations' headquarters in New York City and offices in Geneva , Vienna , and Nairobi are administered as international concessions by the United Nations, while still subject to most local and national laws. As
2478-448: Is also possible for powers to agree on the demilitarisation of a zone without formally settling their respective territorial claims, enabling the dispute to be resolved by peaceful means such as diplomatic dialogue or an international court. Several demilitarised zones have also unintentionally become wildlife preserves because their land is unsafe for construction or less exposed to human disturbances (including hunting). Examples include
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#17327919183882596-725: Is ceded to one or more foreign states. International zones may also maintain distinct visa policies from the rest of the surrounding state. A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the jurisdiction within which it is located. SEZs are generally established to increase foreign direct investment or facilitate export-oriented manufacturing . Depending on its purpose, an SEZ typically has less strict border control policies with regard to customs. An export processing zone will typically allow for goods manufactured for export to be exempt from excise tax and for capital goods and raw materials to be exempt from customs duties upon import, while
2714-602: The British Consulate compound , and the United States Court for China was established in the US Consulate in 1906. Both courts were occupied by the Japanese on 8 December 1941 and effectively ceased to function from that date. The currency situation in China was very complicated in the 19th century, as there was no unified monetary system. Different parts of China operated different systems, and
2832-533: The First World War , Japan overtook Britain as the country with the largest number of foreign residents in Shanghai. In 1914, Japan sided with Britain and France in the war and conquered all German possessions in China. By the beginning of the 1930s, Japan was swiftly becoming the most powerful national group in Shanghai and accounted for some 80% of all extraterritorial foreigners in China. Much of Hongkew , which had become an unofficial Japanese settlement,
2950-597: The French concession dropped out of the arrangement. The following year the British and American settlements formally united to create the Shanghai International Settlement. As more foreign powers entered into treaty relations with China, their nationals also became part of the administration of the settlement. The number of treaty powers had climbed to a high of 19 by 1918 but was down to 14 by
3068-863: The General Post Office Building that is today the Shanghai Post Museum. International merchants brought with them amateur musical talent that manifested in the creation of the Shanghai Philharmonic Society in 1868. From here, the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra was officially formed in 1879. In 1938, the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra faced disbandment as the ratepayers in the annual Municipal Council meeting considered reallocating budgets away from
3186-474: The Imperial Japanese Army entered and occupied the British and American controlled parts of the city in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor . The British and American troops, taken by surprise, surrendered without a shot, with the exception of the only British riverboat in Shanghai, HMS Peterel , which refused to surrender; six of the 18 British crew on board at the time were killed when
3304-687: The Korean Demilitarised Zone , the Cypriot Demilitarised Zone ( The Green Line ), and the former Vietnamese Demilitarised Zone which divided Vietnam into two countries ( North Vietnam and South Vietnam ) from 21 July 1954 to 2 July 1976. As a result of the partition of the Korean peninsula by the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, and exacerbated by the subsequent Korean War , there
3422-782: The Panama Canal Zone . Overseas military bases such as the American-administered Pituffik Space Base in Greenland and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or the British-administered Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus are a distinct category of concession ceded by a host state solely for military purposes. The jurisdictional authority ceded to the administering military force varies from base to base depending on
3540-579: The Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek . However, because Shanghai was under Japanese control, this was unenforceable. In reply, in July 1943, the Japanese retroceded the SMC to the City Government of Shanghai, which was then in the hands of the pro-Japanese Wang Jingwei Government . After the war and the liberation of the city from the Japanese, a Liquidation Commission fitfully met to discuss
3658-821: The Shanghai Ghetto in Hongkew. On 21 August 1941 the Japanese government closed Hongkew to Jewish immigration. In February 1943, the International Settlement was de jure returned to the Chinese as part of the British–Chinese Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China and American–Chinese Treaty for Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China with the Nationalist Government of
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3776-651: The Shanghai Municipal Police . In 1932 there were 1,040,780 Chinese living within the International Settlement, with another 400,000 fleeing into the area after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937. For the next five years, the International Settlement and the French Concession were surrounded by Japanese occupiers and Chinese revolutionaries, with conflict often spilling into the Settlement's borders. In 1941,
3894-527: The Spanish pieces of eight that had been coming from Mexico for a few hundred years on Manila galleons were current along the China coast. Until the 1840s, these silver dollar coins were Spanish coins minted mainly in Mexico City ; but from the 1840s, these gave way to Mexican republican dollars . In Shanghai, this complexity represented a microcosm of the complicated economy existing elsewhere along
4012-619: The United States Post Office Department maintained a United States Postal Agency at the Shanghai consulate through which Americans could use the US Post Office to send mail to and from the US mainland and US territories. Starting in 1919 the 16 current regular US stamps were overprinted for use in Shanghai with the city's name, "China", and amounts double their printed face values. In 1922 texts for two of
4130-719: The mainland period of the Republic of China . In major cities like Shanghai and Tianjin, due to the existence of numerous jurisdictions, criminals could commit a crime in one jurisdiction and then easily escape to another. This became a major problem during the Republican period, with the rise of post–Imperial Warlord era and the collapse of central authority in the 1920s and the 1930s. Crime often flourished, especially organised crime by different warlord groups. The majority of concessions in Asia were treaty ports , port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by
4248-567: The police , power station, and public works, were British dominated (though not controlled, since Britain itself had no authority over the council). Some of the Settlement's actions during this period, such as the May 30th Movement , in which Chinese demonstrators were shot by members of the Shanghai Municipal Police (leading to anti-Western protests), did embarrass and threaten the British Empire 's position in China. No Chinese residing in
4366-548: The unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers , as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire prior to its annexation of the Korean peninsula. The treaty port system in China lasted approximately one hundred years beginning with the 1841 Opium War . The system effectively ended when Japan took control of most of the ports in the late 1930s, The Russians relinquished their treaty rights in
4484-599: The 1930s: the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Peru, Mexico, and Switzerland. Nonetheless, the SMC remained a predominantly British affair until the growth of Japan 's involvement in the late 1930s. The international character of the Settlement was reflected in the flag and seal of the Municipal Council, which featured
4602-785: The 19th century, Shanghai Russians also arrived, with Russia's construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway and acquisition of Harbin and Port Arthur . On 11 July 1854 a committee of Western businessmen met and held the first annual meeting of the Shanghai Municipal Council ( SMC , formally the Council for the Foreign Settlement North of the Yang-king-pang ), ignoring protests of consular officials, and laid down
4720-471: The 5,584 acres the International Settlement was to cover by 1899 – was slightly expanded westward and northward. Following the British example, the French consul Charles de Montigny and the Daotai Lin’gui agreed in 1849 that a French settlement be established on a strip of land between the Chinese city and the British settlement. The American consul was somewhat offended by the fact that the British and
4838-529: The Baltic states, or Finland. Chinese citizens and citizens of non-treaty powers were subject to Chinese law. Inside the Settlement, cases against them would be brought to the Mixed Court , a court established in the Settlement in the 1864 which existed until 1926. In cases involving foreigners, a foreign assessor , usually a consular officer, would sit with the Chinese magistrate and in many cases acted like
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4956-492: The British and their enclaves were established north and south, respectively, of the British area. Unlike the colonies of Hong Kong and Macau , where the United Kingdom and Portugal enjoyed full sovereignty in perpetuity, the foreign concessions in China remained under Chinese sovereignty. In 1854, the three countries created the Shanghai Municipal Council (SMC) to serve all their interests, but, in 1862,
5074-600: The CCL as armed guards to monitor the civilians as well as to protect them from North Korean intruders. Most of the tourist and media photos of the "Demilitarised Zone fence" are actually photos of the CCL fence. The actual Demilitarised Zone fence on the Southern Limit Line is completely off-limits to everybody except soldiers and it is illegal to take pictures of the Demilitarised Zone fence. Similarly,
5192-456: The China coast. The Chinese reckoned in weights of silver, which did not necessarily correspond to circulating coins. One important unit was a tael , a measurement of weight with several different definitions. These included customs taels (for foreign trade) and cotton taels (for cotton trade), among others. Shanghai had its own tael, which was very similar in weight to the customs tael and therefore popular for international business. China also had
5310-646: The Chinese Post Office to the Universal Postal Union to the Shanghai Post Office. Some other foreign countries refused to fall under this new postal service's remit, however; for many years, Japan notably sent almost all its mail to Shanghai in diplomatic bags , which could not be opened by postal staff. The General Shanghai Post Office was first located on Beijing Road and moved to the location on Sichuan North Road of
5428-510: The Civil International Space Station. Under the agreement, each state is responsible for any liability associated with the components it contributes to the station and for the management of their programmes and use of the station. Furthermore, each participating state exercises criminal jurisdiction over its personnel on the station except where the victim of a crime is a national of another participating state and
5546-483: The Civilian Control Line (CCL) and the start of the Demilitarised Zone. The CCL is a line that designates an additional buffer zone to the Demilitarised Zone within a distance of 5 to 20 kilometres from the Southern Limit Line of the Demilitarised Zone. Its purpose is to limit and control the entrance of civilians into the area to protect and maintain the security of military facilities and operations near
5664-530: The Demilitarised Zone. The commander of the 8th US Army ordered the creation of the CCL and it was activated and first became effective in February 1954. The buffer zone that falls south of the Southern Limit Line is called the Civilian Control Zone. Barbed wire fences and manned military guard posts mark the CCLe. South Korean soldiers typically accompany tourist busses and cars travelling north of
5782-668: The European powers as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance during the infamous fifty-five-day siege of the foreign embassy compound in Peking . Japan entered the 20th century as a rising world power, and with its unequal treaties with the European powers now abrogated, it actually joined in, obtaining an unequal treaty with China granting extraterritorial rights under the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed in 1895. In 1915, during
5900-402: The French had secured the best plots of land in the area, and after lengthy deliberations, the Americans – who with the Treaty of Wanghia of 1844 had gained the same rights as those enjoyed by the British in the five treaty ports – established their own settlement northeast of Shanghai. In 1852 the total population of the settlements was about 500, including 265 foreigners. Towards the end of
6018-443: The International Settlement era can still be seen today along the Bund and in many locations around the city. The International Settlement did not have a unified legal system. The Municipal Council issued Land Regulations and regulations under this, that were binding on all people in the settlement. Other than this, citizens and subjects of powers that had treaties with China that provided for extraterritorial rights were subject to
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#17327919183886136-399: The International Settlement were permitted to join the council until 1928. Amongst the many members who served on the council, its chairman during the 1920s, Stirling Fessenden , is possibly the most notable. An American, he served as the settlement's main administrator during Shanghai's most turbulent era, and was considered more "British" than the council's British members. He oversaw many of
6254-452: The International Settlement's Land Regulations stated unequivocally that "the land encompassed in the territory remains Chinese territory, subject to China's sovereign rights." As expressed by legal experts, "the self-governing International Settlement possesses no more power than the mere delegation of purely local and municipal powers and functions. Control of police, sanitation, roads, and other problems of local administration are granted to
6372-401: The International Settlement. Until the year 1873, however, US dollar coins would have reasonably corresponded in size, shape and value to Mexican dollars. Between 1873 and 1900, all silver standard dollars had depreciated to about 50% of the value of the gold standard dollars of the United States and Canada, leading to a rising economic depression. The Chinese themselves officially adopted
6490-431: The Japanese (whose troops eventually outnumbered the other countries' many times over). From the 1860s, the Municipal Council began building roads beyond the concession boundaries, ostensibly to connect the concession with other properties or facilities which required the protection of Britain and other treaty powers during the unrest of the Taiping Rebellion. The Municipal Council obtained limited administrative powers over
6608-459: The Japanese launched an abortive political bid to take over the SMC: during a mass meeting of ratepayers at the Settlement Race Grounds, a Japanese official leaped up and shot William Keswick , then chairman of the council. While Keswick was only wounded, a near riot broke out. Britain evacuated its garrisons from mainland Chinese cities, particularly Shanghai, in August 1940. Anglo-American influence effectively ended after 8 December 1941, when
6726-406: The Japanese used as a base for military operations during the 1932 January 28th Incident and the 1937 Battle of Shanghai . After that battle, Japan took full control over the northern extra-settlement roads area and expelled International Settlement police. The neutrality of the western extra-settlement roads area survived in some form until the withdrawal of British troops in 1940. Article 28 of
6844-448: The Land Regulations which established the principles of self-government. The aims of this first Council were simply to assist in the formation of roads, refuse collection, and taxation across the disparate Concessions. In 1863 the American concession—land fronting the Huangpu River to the north-east of Soochow Creek ( Suzhou Creek )—officially joined the British Settlement (stretching from Yang-ching-pang Creek to Suzhou Creek) to become
6962-407: The Moroccan city of Tangier and its environs between 1923 and 1956. Much like the Shanghai International Settlement , the government and administration of the zone was in the hands of a number of foreign powers. The Zone had its own appointed International Legislative Assembly , which was subject to supervision by a Committee of Control consisting of the Consuls of Belgium, France, Britain, Italy,
7080-426: The Municipal Council simply because that body happens to be the one best equipped to deal with these matters in an area where the large majority of foreigners dwell. But the Municipal Council is in no sense a political body. Its powers, being delegated and hence limited, are subject to strict construction. What foreigners acquire is simply the delegated power of municipal administration, while the reserve powers remain in
7198-406: The Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Executive power was vested in an Administrator, and judicial power resided in a Mixed Court of five judges, respectively appointed by the Belgian, British, Spanish, French, and Italian governments. As a result of the creation of the Mixed Court, the various European powers withdrew the consular courts that previously exercised jurisdiction there. The Zone had
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#17327919183887316-485: The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Peru, Mexico, and Switzerland. Germany and Austria-Hungary lost their treaty rights after WWI, and Russia gave up her rights as a matter of political expediency. Belgium was declared by China to have lost her rights in 1927. Furthermore, the Chinese government adamantly refused to grant treaty power status to any of the new nations born in the wake of WWI, such as Austria and Hungary (formerly Austria-Hungary), Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia,
7434-430: The Shanghai International Settlement. The French concession remained independent and the Chinese retained control over the original walled city and the area surrounding the foreign enclaves. This would later result in sometimes absurd administrative outcomes, such as needing three drivers' licenses to travel through the complete city. By the late-1860s Shanghai's official governing body had been practically transferred from
7552-444: The Suez Canal while the United States government administered the area surrounding the Panama Canal from 1903 to 1999. Concessionary administration of the Suez Canal was ended when Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the company during the Suez Crisis while American administration of the Panama Canal ended as a result of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties in which the United States voluntarily renounced its concession over
7670-404: The United Kingdom treaty). The only department not chaired by a Briton was the Municipal Orchestra, which was controlled by an Italian . The Settlement maintained its own fire-service, police force (the Shanghai Municipal Police ), and even possessed its own military reserve in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps ( 萬國商團 ). Following some disturbances at the British concession in Hankow in 1927 ,
7788-448: The United Nations requires delegates from all member states to be permitted to attend meetings at its headquarters, host countries maintain special visa arrangements such as the C-2 visa which enables otherwise inadmissible foreign officials to enter the United States, provided they remain within the vicinity of the UN headquarters. The Tangier International Zone was a 373 square kilometre concession administered by several countries in
7906-470: The agreement concluded by the host and administering state. For example, Khmeimim Air Base in Syria is leased to the Russian government for a period of 49 years and the Russian government exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction over the air base and its personnel while the British government administers Akrotiri and Dhekelia (designated as "sovereign base areas" under the treaty establishing Cyprus independence) as an overseas territory . The sterile zone at
8024-606: The airport without passing through French customs control. The airport has been jointly operated by the two countries since a 1946 treaty. Geneva Airport in Switzerland has similar facilities for French travellers. A demilitarised zone is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities or personnel. They often lie along de jure or de facto frontiers or boundaries between two or more military powers or alliances. Demilitarised zones should not be confused with border zones , which are areas lying along
8142-418: The areas adjacent to these "extra-settlement roads", making the area a "quasi-concession". The expansion of the International Settlement in 1899 took in most of the extra-settlement roads area, but from 1901 the Municipal Council began building further roads beyond the new boundary with a view to expanding the concession to cover those areas as well. However, a request to further expand the concession (inspired by
8260-406: The carrying out of military maneuvers, as well as the testing of any type of weapon", although it does provide for the "use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purpose". The treaty establishes the continent as a preserve for scientific research, suspends all territorial claims over the continent, and permits all states to establish research stations on
8378-459: The complications arising from a mixture of Chinese and Spanish coinages, there was one overwhelming unifying factor binding all the systems in use: silver . The Chinese reckoned purely in terms of silver, and value was always compared against a weight of silver (hence, the reason large prices were given in tael). It was the strict adherence of the Chinese to silver that caused China and even the British colonies of Hong Kong and Weihaiwei to remain on
8496-407: The concession areas, which formally remained under Qing sovereignty. Initially, Chinese people who committed crimes in, say, the British zone, were remanded to Chinese authorities. The Suez and Panama Canals were originally established as concessions administered by the foreign powers who funded their construction. Between 1859 and 1956, the British and French owned Suez Canal Company operated
8614-404: The concessions also maintained their own military garrison and standing army. Military and police forces of the Chinese government were sometimes present. Some police forces allowed Chinese, others did not. In these concessions, the citizens of each foreign power were given the right to freely inhabit, trade, proselytize , and travel. They developed their own sub-cultures, isolated and distinct from
8732-716: The concessions were generally subject to consular law, and some of these laws applied to the Chinese residents. Notable Concessions include the Shanghai International Settlement administered by the United Kingdom and the United States, the French Concession in Shanghai , the Kwantung Leased Territory , and the Beijing Legation Quarter . The foreign concessions in China continued to exist during
8850-417: The consensus decisions of the consultative parties: about which activities are acceptable, which areas require permits to enter, what processes of environmental impact assessment must precede activities, and so on. The Antarctic Treaty is often considered to represent an example of the common heritage of mankind principle. Outer space is generally regarded as an international zone insofar as it falls outside
8968-412: The continent. Antarctica currently has no permanent population and therefore it has no citizenship nor government. Personnel present on Antarctica at any time are almost always citizens or nationals of some sovereignty outside Antarctica, as there is no Antarctic sovereignty. Consequently, individuals who commit crimes in Antarctica are typically subject to the jurisdiction of their country of nationality,
9086-419: The countries of the foreign powers origin. Chinese were originally forbidden from most of the concessions, but to improve commercial activity and services, by the 1860s most concessions permitted Chinese, but treated them like second-class citizens as they were not citizens of the foreign state administering the concession. They eventually became the majority of the residents inside the concessions. Non-Chinese in
9204-589: The country in 1976. Demilitarised zones are common in Europe and the Middle East, especially in areas with territorial disputes in the aftermath of military conflicts. Contemporary : Historical : Martin García Island – The Rio de la Plata Boundary Treaty of 1973 between Argentina and Uruguay established that the island would remain under Argentinean sovereignty but could only be used as
9322-606: The defences at Shanghai were augmented by a permanent battalion of the British Army , which was referred to as the Shanghai Defence Force (SDF or SHAF), and a contingent of US Marines . Other armed forces would arrive in Shanghai; the French Concession had a defensive force of Troupes de marine and Annamite suppletive troops from French Indochina , the Italians also introduced their own marines, as did
9440-456: The dollar unit as their national currency in 1889, and the first Chinese dollar coins, known as yuan , contained an inscription which related their value to an already existing Chinese system of accounts. On the earliest Chinese dollar (yuan) coins it states the words 7 mace and 2 candareens . The mace and candareen were sub-divisions of the tael unit of weight. Banknotes tended to be issued in dollars, either worded as such or as yuan. Despite
9558-625: The failure of the 2019 Hanoi Summit indefinitely postponed these plans. In 1962, the International Court of Justice had ordered the creation of a "provisional demilitarised zone" around the Preah Vihear Temple whose ownership is claimed by both Cambodia and Thailand . During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria , when they administered as the puppet state of Manchukuo , the Tanggu Truce of May 1933
9676-562: The fear of naval battles breaking out. This has led to firefights and sinkings of boats between Chinese fishermen and South Korean Coast Guard . On 30 January 2019, North Korean and South Korean military officials signed a landmark agreement that would open the Han River Estuary to civilian vessels for the first time since the Armistice Agreement in 1953. The agreement was scheduled to take place in April 2019 but
9794-628: The first British consul, Captain George Balfour , could not even find a house for the consulate. The British finally decided to locate themselves in the northern suburbs and asked the Daotai , Gong Muiju, to designate an area there as a segregated British area. This dovetailed with the Daotai's intentions since two violent incidents between local Chinese and foreigners had prompted him to take steps to limit contacts between Chinese and foreigners. This
9912-509: The flags of several countries. The international settlement came to an abrupt end in December 1941 when Japanese troops stormed in immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . In early 1943, new treaties signed formally ended the extraterritorial privileges of Americans and Britons, although its terms were not met until the recovery of Shanghai following Japan's 1945 surrender . The French later surrendered their privileges in
10030-597: The founder of the Ottoman Empire Osman I , has been located in northern Syria since the Empire's collapse. The 1921 Treaty of Ankara established the area surrounding the tomb as a Turkish concession. The tomb was moved in 1973 as the site was to be flooded by the creation of Lake Assad , and in 2015 it was relocated unilaterally by Turkey in response to the Syrian civil war . The Syrian government denounced
10148-405: The individual concessions to the Shanghai Municipal Council (工部局, literally "Works Department", from the standard English local government title of 'Board of works'). The British Consul was the de jure authority in the Settlement, but he had no actual power unless the ratepayers (who voted for the council) agreed. Instead, he and the other consulates deferred to the council. The council had become
10266-423: The intrinsic Chinese culture , and colonial administrations attempted to give their concessions "homeland" qualities. Churches, public houses , and various other western commercial institutions sprang up in the concessions. In the case of Japan, its own traditions and language naturally flourished. Some of these concessions eventually had more advanced architecture of each originating culture than most cities back in
10384-587: The island of Hong Kong and the surrounding area to the British under the Treaty of Nanjing , resulting in the area being administered as a British trading hub until 1997. During the late Qing years , significant portions of Chinese territory, primarily along the coast, were surrendered as concessions to occupying powers including many European powers as well as Japan and the United States. Each concession had its own police force, and different legal jurisdictions with their own separate laws. Thus, an activity might be legal in one concession but illegal in another. Many of
10502-438: The jurisdiction of the country where they are located and local laws apply. Persons caught committing an unlawful act (e.g. possession of contraband such as illegal drugs) in the international zone are liable for prosecution. Within international airports, transit passengers can usually take connecting international flights in the international zone without clearing customs and immigration controls, and in most cases do not require
10620-411: The laws of their own countries and civil and criminal complaints against them were required to be brought against them to their consular courts (courts overseen by consular officials) under the laws of their own countries. The number of treaty powers had climbed to a high of 19 by 1918 but was down to 14 by the 1930s: the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
10738-486: The local Shanghai tael unit. The Shanghai Post Office controlled all post within the Settlement, but post entering or leaving the treaty port was required to go through the Chinese Imperial Post Office. In 1922 the various foreign postal services, the Shanghai Post Office, and the Chinese Post Office were all brought together into a single Chinese Post Office, thus extending the 1914 membership of
10856-613: The major incidents of the decade, including the May 30th Movement and the White Terror that came with the Shanghai massacre of 1927 . By the early 1930s, the British and the Chinese each had five members on the council, the Japanese two and the Americans and others two. At the 1936 Council election, because of their increasing interests in the Settlement, the Japanese nominated three candidates. Only two were elected, which led to
10974-525: The most duty-free sales is Seoul Incheon Airport with US$ 1.85 billion in 2016. Dubai International Airport is second, recording transactions worth $ 1.82 billion in 2016. EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , an airport located in France 20 kilometres southeast of Mulhouse and 3.5 kilometres northwest of Basel (Switzerland), contains a binational sterile zone including a customs road allowing passengers travelling to and from Switzerland to access
11092-564: The move as incompatible with the 1921 treaty; Turkey plans to move the tomb back to the second site. The island port of Dejima was a Portuguese and, later, Dutch concession near the Japanese city of Nagasaki . Established to house Portuguese traders during the Nanban trade , it was later ceded to Dutch administration between 1641 and 1854. Under the Sakoku policy in force during the Edo period , it
11210-467: The national jurisdiction of any state. Article II of the Outer Space Treaty expressly forbids states from claiming celestial bodies such as the Moon or a planet as their own territory, whether by declaration, occupation, or "any other means". However, the state that launches a space object, such as a satellite or space station, retains jurisdiction and control over that object; by extension,
11328-472: The orchestra, since it was "western and unnecessary." However, after much discussion, they decided to keep the orchestra, acknowledging that its educational value was much greater than the cost of keeping it up. The Shanghai Municipal Orchestra had the financial and verbal backing of many other larger countries, including Italy, who donated 50,000 lire to the orchestra, the France Council, who acted as
11446-490: The overprints were changed, thereby completing the Scott catalogue set of K1-18, "Offices in China". The British originally used British postage stamps overprinted with the local currency amount, but from 1868, the British changed to Hong Kong postage stamps already denominated in dollars . However, in the special case of Shanghai, in the year 1865 the International Settlement began to issue its own postage stamps, denominated in
11564-653: The period of Japanese occupation. The Japanese sent European and American citizens to be interned at the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center , a work camp on what was then the outskirts of Shanghai. Survivors of Lunghua were released in August 1945. Shanghai was notable for a long period as the only place in the world that unconditionally offered refuge for Jews escaping from the Nazis. These refugees often lived in squalid conditions in an area known as
11682-581: The perpetrator's state of nationality does not prosecute the offence. Shanghai International Settlement The Shanghai International Settlement ( Chinese : 上海公共租界 ) originated from the 1863 merger of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai , in which British and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction under the terms of unequal treaties agreed by both parties. These treaties were abrogated in 1943. The British settlements were established following
11800-636: The remaining details of the handover. By the end of 1945, most Westerners not actively involved in the Chinese Civil War (such as intelligence agents, soldiers, journalists, etc.) or in Shanghai's remaining foreign businesses, had left the city. With the defeat of the Kuomintang in 1949, the city was occupied by the Communist People's Liberation Army and came under the control of the mayor of Shanghai . The foreign architecture of
11918-536: The ship was sunk after the Japanese opened fire at almost point-blank range. The French troops did not move from the preserved French Concession, as the French Vichy government considered itself neutral. European residents of the International Settlement were forced to wear armbands to differentiate them, were evicted from their homes, and—just like Chinese citizens—were liable to maltreatment. All were liable for punitive punishments, torture and even death during
12036-471: The silver standard after the rest of the world had changed over to the gold standard. When China began producing official Republican yuan coins in 1934, they were minted in Shanghai and shipped to Nanking for distribution. Shanghai had developed a postal service as early as the Ming dynasty , but during the treaty port era foreign postal services were organised through their respective consulates. For example,
12154-700: The sovereign grantor, the Chinese Government. Although under the control of the Consular Council, the area is still Chinese territory, over which China's sovereignty remains unsurrendered". In the 19th century, Europeans possessed treaty ports in Japan in the same way they held those in China. However, Japan rapidly developed into a modern nation, and by the turn of the 20th century the Japanese had successfully negotiated with all powers to abrogate all unequal treaties with it. Japan stood alongside
12272-628: The sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard but subjects it to certain stipulations and consequently not all Norwegian law applies, including border controls. The treaty regulates the demilitarisation of the archipelago. The signatories were given equal rights to engage in commercial activities (mainly coal mining) on the islands. As of 2012 , Norway and Russia are making use of this right. Similarly, simplified visa policies are in force for Iran's special economic zones of Kish and Qeshm islands, and for Iraqi Kurdistan . A concession
12390-650: The treaty explicitly allows the use of military personnel and resources to support peaceful uses of space, mirroring the Antarctic Treaty's position on military deployment in that continent. While most satellites and space stations are administered by the state that deployed them, the International Space Station is governed by an international framework established by the Agreement Concerning Cooperation on
12508-601: The treaty port era ended in the late 1940s when the communists took over and nearly all foreigners left. Within the concessions in China, the occupying foreign powers administered distinct legal systems. The two main courts judging extraterritorial cases were the Shanghai Mixed Court and the British Supreme Court for China . Similar courts were established for treaty countries, e.g. the United States Court for China . These had jurisdiction over
12626-446: The victim's country of nationality (if applicable), or the country administering the base in or expedition during which the crime occurred. Governments that are party to the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental Protection implement the articles of these agreements, and decisions taken under them, through national laws. These laws generally apply only to their own citizens, wherever they are in Antarctica, and serve to enforce
12744-537: The victory of the British in the First Opium War (1839–1842). Under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking , the five treaty ports including Shanghai were opened to foreign merchants, overturning the monopoly then held by the southern port of Canton ( Guangzhou ) under the Canton System . The British also established a base on Hong Kong . American and French involvement followed closely on the heels of
12862-781: The wake of the Russian revolution in 1917, and the Germans were expelled in 1914. The three main treaty powers, the British, the Americans, and the French continued to hold their concessions and extraterritorial jurisdictions until the Second World War . This ended when the Japanese stormed into their concessions in late 1941. They formally relinquished their treaty rights in a new "equal treaties" agreement with Chiang Kai-shek 's Nationalist Government in exile in Chongqing in 1943. The international communities that were residues of
12980-657: The whole estuary of the Han River in the Korean Peninsula is deemed a "Neutral Zone" and is officially off-limits to all civilian vessels. Only military vessels are allowed within this neutral zone. In recent years, Chinese fishing vessels have taken advantage of the tense situation in the Han River Estuary Neutral Zone and illegally fished in this area due to both North Korean and South Korean navies never patrolling this area due to
13098-606: Was Japan's only point of interaction with the outside world. Border controls limited passage of foreign merchants from Dejima to Nagasaki and of Japanese from Nagasaki to Dejima. Similarly, the island of Macau was ceded by China during the Ming dynasty to the Portuguese, who administered it as a trading hub between 1557 and 1999. In the aftermath of the Opium Wars , the Ming Dynasty's successor Qing Dynasty ceded
13216-571: Was concluded between China and Japan, establishing a demilitarised zone between Manchukuo and China. In 1937 Japan violated this truce with an invasion of the remainder of China. In 1945, after the fall of the Japanese empire at the end of the Asia-Pacific theatre of World War II , Manchuria was re-incorporated into China. Similarly, during the Vietnam War , there was a demilitarised zone between North Vietnam and South Vietnam . The zone
13334-746: Was established in July 1954 as a result of the Geneva Conference ending the war between the Viet Minh and France. The DMZ in Vietnam officially lay at the 17th parallel but, in reality, extended about 1.5 km on either side of the Bến Hải River and west to east from the Lao border to the South China Sea . The Vietnamese demilitarised zone was abolished following the reunification of
13452-479: Was formalized in 1845 with the delimitation of a segregated area north of Yangjingbang, a creek that ran north of the Chinese city. Later that year Gong Muiju and Balfour concluded an agreement called the Land Regulations ( Shanghai zudi zhangcheng ), which set forth the institutional basis for the British settlement. In 1848, with the permission of the Daotai, the 138-acre British settlement – a fraction of
13570-549: Was increased to five. The International Settlement was wholly foreign-controlled, with staff of all nationalities, including British , Americans, Danes , Dutch , French , Spanish , Portuguese , Italians and Germans . In reality, the British held the largest number of seats on the council and headed all the Municipal departments (British included Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians , Newfoundlanders , and South Africans whose extraterritorial rights were established by
13688-651: Was known as Little Tokyo . In 1931, supposed "protection of Japanese colonists from Chinese aggression" in Hongkew was used as a pretext for the Shanghai Incident , when Japanese troops invaded Shanghai. From then until the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) Hongkew was almost entirely outside of the SMC's hands, with law and protection enforced to varying degrees by the Japanese Consular Police and Japanese members of
13806-462: Was not a word about separate residential areas for foreigners on Chinese soil. However, the imperial commissioner who negotiated the supplementary treaty reported to the Qing emperor that by signing the treaty he had successfully arranged that in the treaty ports "the boundaries of an area should be designated which foreigners are not allowed to exceed" ( yiding jiezhi, buxu yuyue ), an intent however that
13924-502: Was not clearly stated in the English-language version of the treaty. The Qing rulers, by intending to confine the "barbarians" to an officially designated special zone, apparently hoped to resurrect the old Canton system , that is, a system that strictly confined foreigners to a segregated zone. At Shanghai, the intention of the imperial officials had clearly been initially to keep the foreigners out and upon his arrival in 1843,
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