光绪初年西班牙侵华风闻与清政府的应对

The Rumor of Spain’s Invasion of China and the Response of the Qing Government in the Early Years of the Guangxu Period

同光以来,清政府面临着日益严峻的边疆危机。1876—1877年间,西班牙因索伯拉那船案索偿被拒、欲派兵侵华的消息见诸报端。清政府通过多方搜集情报,判断西班牙侵华风闻与两国在古巴华工条款上的分歧有关。为应对可能的入侵,清政府一方面加强海防、积极备战;另一方面趁备战状态与西班牙交涉船案。船案办结后,两国签署《会订古巴华工条款》,西班牙侵华风闻烟消云散。清政府对西班牙侵华风闻的反应,可视为近代中国海防从筹议到落实的一个典型事例。清政府在处理风闻危机时没有为调配海防资源、筹措海防经费等提供制度保障,如何规划国家海防建设成为清政府之后亟待解决的问题。此次风闻危机促使清政府更加关注周边海上的军事动向,进一步加强沿海预警设防与南北洋联防的观念。

The Qing government had been faced with an increasingly serious border crisis since the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods.Between 1876 and 1877,newspapers successively reported that Spain planned to send its fleets in Philippines to attack China in consequence of the Qing government’s refusal to its claim on the case of the Sorbina ship.The Qing government collected intelligence from multiple sources and judged that the emergence of this rumor had something to do with the disputes between the two countries on the issue of Chinese workers in Cuba.To cope with the potential invasion,the Qing government on the one hand reinforced its coastal defense and made active preparation for the potential conflict,on the other hand,it took the initiative to discuss the ship case with the Spanish envoys.After the ship case was solved,Spain and China signed a treaty on the issue of Cuban Chinese workers,and the rumor of Spain’s invasion of China disappeared completely.The response of the Qing government to the rumor of Spain’s invasion of China could be regarded as a typical case which exhibited the reaction process of modern China’s coastal defense from prewar mobilization to implementation.This case exposed the Qing government’s lack of institutional guarantee in deploying resources and raising funds for coastal defense when dealing with the crisis.Henceforth,how to plan the construction of national coastal defense became an urgent issue for the Qing government.This crisis prompted the Qing government to pay more attention to the military moves in its surrounding waters and to develop the concept of earlywarning of threats at seas and joint operation of naval forces of Beiyang and Nanyang.