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Russia at the same time. The acquisition of PortArthur, long mooted in certain Russian circles, tookplace as a result of the German occupation of Kiaochowa few months before. It was immediately followed bythe British acquisition of Weihaiwei, lying over againstPort Arthur, while in the south France gained a similarlease of Kwangchow. The rivalries between the WesternEowers, particularly Russia and Great Britain, wereecoming more and more openly accentuated, and whatwas about to prove a new power was rapidly emergingin the near-at-hand island empire of Japan.The set-back administered by Russia in 1895 toJapanese interests and ambitions on the mainland hadnot been forgiven, and her activities in Korea andoccupation of Port Arthur after having deprived Japanof it added injury to insult. Port Arthur was promptlyturned into a powerful fortress and naval base, unlikeVladivostok, open all the year round. It was, however,a thousand miles from Vladivostok, the nearest Russianterritory, and the Russian admiralty, which for thisreason had always preferred an ice-free Korean port,continued to alarm the Japanese with the spectre ofanother Russian naval station, this time in the strategicstraits of Tsushima.Russian power in Manchuria was alarmingly extendedas a result of the anti-foreign ' Boxer' outbreak in 1900.This led to joint armed intervention by the Europeanpowers, but Russia as well acted on her own and occupiedthe whole of Manchuria with regular troops. Thisaction, as also the acquisition of Port Arthur, had notbeen approved by Witte, who held to his original policyof gradual economic dominance in Manchuria, in agreementwith the Chinese government, through his bankand railway, with the military kept well in the rear.Henceforward Witte's influence was definitely on thedecline, and in the summer of 1903 he was relieved of hisministries. His extremist rivals triumphed, by theircapture of the tsar's private ear and privy purse. Theyalso triumphed over the moderating influence of theforeign office and the changed views of the war minister,who by 1903 was advocating a more conciliatory policy.303