Since the modern system of foreign relations that had been forged by European countries was based on the principle of sovereign equality, in other words, the diplomacy between independent nations, the order of kai was forced to change or dissolve according to the development of such system of foreign relations.
ヨーロッパ諸国が主導して形成した近代外交体制は基本的に主権平等主義に基づき、対等国同士の外交という形式を取っていたため、この外交体制の拡大とともに華夷秩序も徐々に変容あるいは解体されることとなった。