袁世凱一生的從政可以歸納成二個階段：一是辛亥革命之前的晚清時期；二是辛亥革命之後至袁世凱去世為止。中外學者對於袁世凱的關注，主要集中在政治上，如袁世凱在戊戌政變上的角色及與軍閥的關係，以及帝制等諸議題。而對於袁氏在清季的外交表現與思維，則較為少見。 仔細探究袁世凱在這二階段的種種外交主張與措施，仍有其可取之處，其高人一等的謀略，如在山東巡撫任內成功處理教案，並贏得中外人士的認同；以及任用像顧維鈞等優秀的外交人才。凡此均可視為袁世凱的外交成果，絕不可一筆抹煞。 本文的目的主要集中探討自一八九九年起，袁世凱任山東巡撫，以迄一九○八年卸任清政府外務部尚書止，其間他的外交表現，進而說明袁世凱在外交成就上，的確有過人之處。

　　　　　Analyzing the official career of Yuan Shih-k'ai from 1899-1908, we can detect two stages: one is from 1899 to 1911 in the Late Ching Dynasty, and the other is from 1911, when the Republic of China was founded, to 1916, when he died. Most scholars focus their attention on Yuan's political policies, such as relations between Yuan and the warlords, and his attempt to become an emperor. Few are concerned with how he dealt with foreign policies and strategies. In China, Yuan was regarded as a traitor to the Republic of China But if we carefully consider Yuan's foreign policy strategies and viewpoints in these two stages, there are still many achievements worthy of our attention, including his success in dealing with the missionary accident in Shantung, recruitment of diplomatic talents into the government, and obtaining recognition of Republic of the China from the United States government in 1913. This paper concentrates on Yuan's foreign policy performance from 1899, when he became the governor-general of Shantung, to 1908, when he retired from the post as the minister of foreign affairs. The most important aim of this paper is to explain how Yuan was one with remarkable foreign talents in modern Chinese history.