C. O.
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
23755
814
i
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[19837]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 9.)
(No. 211.) Sir,
June 9
SECTION 6.
1 JUL 08
Peking, May 12, 1908. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 184 of the 4th April on the subject of the opening of Nanning, and to refer to my last despatch upon this question, No. 70 of the 6th February, in which I stated that I had called for a Report from His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton in regard to the British trading establishment which had been opened in Nanning city.
From Mr. Mansfield's reply, copy of which I have the honour to inclose, it appears that "temporary permission has been given for this establishment, but that the uncertainty as to the area exempted from li-kin precludes any development of foreign trade.
During my visit to the south I discussed the question of Nanning with represen- tatives of British firms in Hong Kong, and gathered that they did not regard its trading potentialities as at all importart. Nevertheless, I represented to the Viceroy at Canton the unsatisfactory nature of the regulations under which it was opened, and invoked his assistance in getting them modified in conformity with the views of His Majesty's Government.
His Excellency disclaimed any direct concern in the question, which, he said, lay almost entirely in the hands of the Provincial Government of Kuangsi and the Central Government.
In the meanwhile the question of the li-kin-free arca in Treaty ports has occupied attention at Shanghae. The correspondence, copy of which I have the honour to inclose, will show that the Consular Body at Shanghae had occasion to protest in October last aginst the levy of li-kin within the actual harbour limits of the port, and that the Taotai adhered to the view that no irregularity was thereby involved, though expressing his willingness to see that no li-kin was levied on goods which had not passed "into the interior, or which have not come into the possession of a native firm."
This correspondence was laid before the Wai-wu Pu by the Diplomatic Body in a note of the 2nd April, in which it was held that the "whole area of the port, including, of course, the harbour thereof," was exempt from the collection of hi-kin, both in respect to foreign imports and native exports; and further, that foreign imports, even when sold to Chinese, were not liable to additional taxation within the Treaty-port area.
The reply of Prince Ching to this communication challenged the principles laid down. His Highness argues that the Treaties contain no definition of Treaty port limits, and quotes the third section of the Chefoo Convention to show that the suggestion of that time was to limit the li-kin-free area to the Concessions or Settlements. The Chinese Government have never, he adds, accepted the definition framed by the Powers, and foreign goods and native produce can only escape li-kin by the payment of transit dues.
At a meeting of the Diplomatic Body on the 9th May this note was discussed, and I took the opportunity to carry out the line of action indicated in your despatch under reply. I explained to my colleagues that, while the situation at Shanghae pre- sented features of great practical importance, the same principles were at stake in the ports opened by China herself, such as Nauning, and I invited them to accept definitely the principle that all ports, no matter how opened, should be held to include the city and the waterways giving access thereto, together with any roads connecting such water- ways in the city.
The American Minister associated himself at once with this view, and the sense of Mention the meeting seemed to show a large preponderance of opinion in its favour. was made of the joint note of the 28th April, 1888, on this subject, and the doyen was asked to circulate a copy of that document.
Eventually it was decided to appoint a Committee of three members, consisting of the doyen (M. van Gitters, the Netherland Minister), the American Minister, and myself, to deal with the whole question. The German Minister was unfortunately
[1815 ¿-6]
B