Ōkuma Shigenobu
Japan, under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu and Foreign Minister Katō Takaaki, drafted the initial list of Twenty-One Demands, which were reviewed by the "genrō" and Emperor Taishō, and approved by the Diet. This list was presented by the diplomat in a private audience to President Yuan Shikai of the Beiyang government on January 18, 1915, with warnings of dire consequences if China were to reject them.