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capital in Peking, and they maintain a diplomatic mission there. But there is no person residing at Peking whom they recognise as the head of the Chinese State, nor any Government which they recognise as the Government of China. There may or may not from time to time be a Government at Peking in the sense that there may or may not be Ministers who have been appointed to offices which are staffed by officials. Whether or not there is in fact a Government is immaterial so long as any Government that emerges is one exercising little or no effective authority in China; even when there is a Government, relations between the British Legation in Peking and the Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs are merely informal. Sir R. Macleay described the present relations between the two in his telegram No. 417 of the 3rd November last as follows:-
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Since the coup d'Etat of last April, and the consequent lapse of recognition of the Peking Government, I have refrained from addressing official notes to the Wai-chiao Pu, with whom His Majesty's Legation has continued to transact routine business by means of informal interviews with heads of departments and written memoranda."
Recognition has lapsed primarily because the succeeding Governments have been unconstitutionally established, but also because they have been at the same time The retention of a more or less completely ineffective as administrative bodies. Minister at Peking has not ipso facto implied the recognition of Governments which have succeeded the Government which was in power when the Minister presented his letters; and it has been placed on record with the Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs that our asking for their agrément for Mr. Lampson's appointment to succeed Sir R. Macleay did not imply any recognition of the existing régime. Mr. Lampson's credentials are addressed to the President of the Republic of China, unnamed, and he has been instructed to defer the presentation of his letters until there is a President to whom His Majesty's Government are able to accord recognition, and, in the meantime, to communicate copies to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Peking and to invite him to recognise him informally as Minister in order to enable him to enter upon his duties provisionally.
5. It is difficult to determine in what degree and over what area the authority of the present Peking Government is recognised in China. As it is composed of nominees of Chang Tso-lin, its authority may be presumed to be at least recognised, though not necessarily effective, over the territory controlled by him, that is, in Manchuria and the Provinces of Chihli and Shantung. In other parts of the country, such, for example, as the territory controlled by Sun Chuan-fang, though the authority of Peking may not be effective, Peking will still be recognised as the traditional and therefore rightful seat of the Government of the country, and the Government established in Peking may be recognised, in form at any rate, as the Government which, for certain purposes, such as foreign relations, may rightfully be regarded as the mouthpiece of the Chinese people, and as a convenient centre to which to refer tiresome questions, especially those relating to foreigners. It will have no control, however, over military and naval forces, over railways, or over finances with the exception of the customs revenues. There are other functions of Government, such, for example, as education, justice, posts and telegraphs, where, in spite of the existing political chaos, the writ of Peking does still appear to run in most parts of China. On the other hand, in those territories occupied by the Southern forces the situation is different; not only is the Peking Government not recognised in any sense as the mouthpiece of the Chinese people, but Peking itself is not regarded as the seat of Government of China. The Southern authorities are preparing to set up on their own lines an Administration entirely distinct from the Administration based on Peking. The one exception to all that has been said above is the Maritime Customs Administration, which still continues, even in Southern territory, to function under the authority of the Central Government in Peking, exercised through the foreign Inspector-General of Customs and the foreign administrative staff of the service.
6. The position is, therefore, roughly that Chang Tso-lin, who regards Peking as the capital, effectively controls the three Manchurian provinces and, through his subordinates, about two more. Sun Chuan-fang, who also regards Peking as the capital, effectively controls about three provinces. The Southern Government, who do not regard Peking as the capital. effectively control about five provinces, while their allies, the Kuo Min-chun, in the north-west, who only regard Peking as the capital when they themselves possess it, control about two provinces. The Southern Government therefore differs from other local Governments in China only in that
it repudiates both the authority and status of Peking and in that it represents a party, and not individuals, and claims to be the rightful Government of all China. His Majesty's Government have not, in fact, in the past treated it differently from any of the other local authorities with whom they have had to deal. His Majesty's consul-general at Mukden treats with Chang Tso-lin as the de facto ruler of the three Manchurian provinces; His Majesty's consul-general at Shanghai, and, in fact, the whole consular body, have treated with the Provincial Government of Kiangsu, which is under the authority of Sun Chuan-fang, as a de facto local Administration, and have gone so far as to conclude with it a provisional agreement for the rendition of the Shanghai Mixed Court. In the same way, His Majesty's acting consul- general at Canton has conducted conversations with the Cantonese Government in regard to the strike and boycott, and has made representations to it in defence of the rights of British subjects. The representatives of the treaty Powers in Peking themselves, when addressing to the Government at Peking their protest against the levy of illegal taxes by the Cantonese and Shantung authorities, instructed the consular bodies both at Canton and at Tsinan to address similar protests to the local Governments. If, therefore, His Majesty's Government now decide to accord special treatment to the Cantonese Government which they do not at present accord to other local Governments in China, their so doing will imply that they regard the Cantonese Government as in some important respect different from other local Governments in China. The only important difference between the Cantonese Government and other local Governments is that it is a party Government, that as such it has adherents in parts of China not under its control, and that it claims to be the Govern- ment of China. It follows that, if His Majesty's Government accord it special treatment, they will by implication be recognising that the Cantonese Government has good grounds for claiming to be different from other Governments in China and that it is, on the whole, more likely to be a permanent factor in China than any other local Government.
7. When we come to consider. however, what it is precisely that we should propose to recognise, we find the alternatives limited to two, unless our new recognition is to be a mere nuance of the kind of recognition we already accord to local authorities in China. Strictly, therefore, we can only recognise the Southern Government as either (i) the Government of China, or (ii) the independent Govern- ment of part of China. We should not be justified in doing the first unless we were satisfied that Canton had already established, or was likely to establish, its authority effectively over the whole of China with some prospect of permanence, and had, in fact, become the Government of that country or set up a substantial right to be regarded as such; or, the second, unless we were satisfied that it was exercising authority over a portion of territory which had declared its independence of the rest of China and was entitled to recognition as an independent State.
S. In either event, we should be justified in establishing diplomatic relations with the Cantonese Government. In the first case, our diplomatic mission in l'eking would remain in Peking if the newly-recognised Government had established its capital in Peking, but would be transferred from Peking to the new capital should the new Government set up its capital elsewhere. In the second case, a separate diplomatic mission would be established at the capital of the new Government and a diplomatic mission would probably still be retained in Peking so long as we regarded Peking as the capital of the rest of China, irrespective of whether there was an effective Government there or not. If, however, when we were recognising Canton as an independent Government we also recognised Sun Chuan-fang's Govern- ment as an independent Government, we should then equally have to establish a diplomatic mission at Sun Chuan-fang's capital, or at Chang Tso-lin's capital, should we recognise him as the independent ruler of Manchuria.
9. The principal criterion upon which to base a judgment on the question of recognition must be the facts of the situation. The facts do not support the claim of the Cantonese Government to be regarded as the Government of China, and we can therefore certainly not at present recognise it as such. The facts may or may not justify us in regarding it as the independent Government of part of China. If they do not, there ought to be no question of recognition. If they do, there are certain further considerations which have to be taken into account before a decision can be reached. These are the desires of the Government which is a candidate for recognition and the treaty obligations of the Powers, recognition by whom is desired. The Claims of the Southern Government.
10. The views of the Southern Government on this question have been indicated on several recent occasions.
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