--
38.
43. Now at last the Japanese Government defined
its policy concerning the new taxes with precision in &
telegram received by the Japanese Minister at Peking on
the 11th December and communicated by him to Mr. OMalloy
The Japanese Government considered that we must refrain
from unnecessarily irritating the Chinese regional
authorities or from resorting to force against them, nc
matter whether they belonged to the North or the South.
We should, however, only invite their contempt if in
the endeavour to maintain a neutral attitude we allowed
ourselves carelessly to discard our treaty-rights and
the privileges which form the backbone of our inter-
national relationship with China. We should, therefore-
maintain these treaties in a clear and unmistakable man-
ner and, when treaties were violated, lodge protests
which, even though ineffective, would at least reserve
the rights of the Powers for the future and have a cer-
tain moral effect on the minds of the Chinese people.
If we were to accede to illegal taxation imposed by
Chinese regional authorities, they would assuredly im-
pose further illegal taxation of a more serious nature,
whenever they found themselves in need of military or
other funds. Moreover, the demand for the immediate
grant of the surtaxes could not be regarded as the
unanimous desire of the Chinese people as a whole. It
was even pointed out in Chinese circles that such an
increase of surtaxes, if effected at the wrong time or in the wrong manner, would only help to prolong civil strife in China. The immediate unconditional grant of
the Washington surtaxes would be tantamount to increas-
ing the military funds both of the southern and the
northern
148