After the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between Japan and China on April 17, 1895 to conclude the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) three European Powers (Russia, Germany and France) intervened on April 23 with 'friendly advice' to Japan to retrocede the Liaotung peninsula including Lushun (Port Arthur) to China.

Japan reluctantly agreed to this, as it was exhausted after the war and in no position to resist. But it was a humiliation at the hands of Russia, avenged by the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05).