!
VIII.
eminent and capable. Continuity is essential to stability, and it will be a crucial test of statesmanship so to lay the foundations of the system that when the President's office becomes vacant, his successors may reasonably count upon being loyally supported by the more responsible and patriotic element amongst the people. A state of affairs in which every change of President is likely to give rise to internal strife would be disastrous. A Chinese Administration is now in power after centuries of Manchu rule. Those who are opposed to an autocratic system have plenty of for
scope devoting their energy and ability to working for the gradual adoption of constitutional measures, and will be doing much better work for their country than by plotting violent or disruptive schemes.
New regulatious for the election of the President were promulgated at the end of the year; the following is a summary of the principal clauses :-
(a) Any Chinese who is 40 years of age, who enjoys full public rights and has lived in the country for upwards of twenty years will be eligible for election.
(6) At each
election, the President, representing the people, shall nominate three candidates, their names to be written by the President on a gold plate which is to be locked up in a casket and the keys kept by the President, the Secretary of State and the Chairman of the State Council.
(c) A committee of ten is to be appointed to open the casket. (d) The names will be submitted by the President to an Electoral College, consisting of fifty members of the State Council and fifty members of the new Parliament, and the candidate who secures two-thirds of the votes will be deemed elected.
(✔) If the required two-thirds are not secured then the two candidates with the largest number of votes will again be submitted to ballot, and the one securing a majority will be elected.
(f) The President himself is eligible for re-election, and for at the same time as the three candidates nominated by him.
(g) The term of office is fixed at ten years.
may
be voted
(4) The State Council may extend the term of office and thereby render an election unnecessary.
"
IX.
(i) The President has also the right to nominate three candidates for Vice-President, whose term of office will also be for ten years. The cedure of election will be the same as for the President.
pro-
These regulations are by no means complicated. in issuing them adds :-
The State Council
"That having considered the practice obtaining in the United States and Mexico the House has come to the conclusion that nothing catt surpass the perfection of the plan of recommendation which it has adopted."
The oath the President is to take is as follows:-
"I swear that I will honestly adhere to the Constitution and faithfully perform my duties as President of this Republic."
Next in importance to the internal political situation are the events connected with the Anglo-Japanese operations against Germany in Shantung, and the subsequent claims made upon China by Japan.
This Association being deeply interested in commercial relations with the Far East learned with great satisfaction of the prompt measures taken by the British and Japanese Governments to deal with the German menace in China and in the Pacific, and welcomes the successful result of the operations. Germany's policy of world Empire evidently did not leave expansion in China out of account; preparations for further development may be seen in the expenditure at Tsingtau estimated at £20,000,000.
The capture of this point d'appui has relieved trade in the Far East from the menace of German aggression, but presumably no definite settlement of the somewhat complex situation arising out of Germany's position in China can be arrived at until the terms of peace are arranged,
At the time of writing Japan has made certain claims on China, some of them relating to matters long outstanding, and others arising out of the recent operations in Shantung, the terms of which have been confidentially communicated to the interested Powers. Circumstantial reports which appeared in the English and American Press purporting to give full details of these claims, gave rise to some uneasiness; but in the absence of official information regarding the actual terms, the Association can only assume
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