Enclosure No. 3 in Shanghai despatch No. 42 to Peking dated March 5th 1928.
91
Copy of His Majesty's Consul's Note.
2nd March 1928.
Last April, when under the instructions of the
Minister I discussed with Dr. F.T. Cheng and Mr. Wunsz King
the best means of giving effect to certain proposals in
the offer communicated by the British Legation to the Wai-
Chiao Pu on January 28th 1927, this question was raised
by the Chinese representatives and mention was made of the
proposal tentatively put forward during the sittings of
the Extraterritorality Commission by a member of the
American delegation, which was in substance that persons
of Chinese origin who claimed foreign nationality should
not be afforded protection in their country of origin by
foreign consuls, if they resided there for more than six
months, unless thay had previously received from the
Ministry of the Interior in China a certificate of de-
nationalisation.
Reference was also made to a draft exchange of
Notes between the British Legation and the Wai Chiao Pu
made by the former in 1925, suggesting a settlement of
the question on the lines of the Sino-Dutch arrangement of
1911.
The Chinese representatives finally put forward
as a personal suggestion the following:-
"No person of Chinese origin shall, while in Chinese territory, claim British protection by virtue of his British nationality unless he has complied with the following conditions:-
(1) he has duly registered himself at the nearest British Consulate of the district where he is residing and his name has been communicated to the proper Chinese authorities: and
(2) if he has resided in China for over six months he has, in addition to registration at the British Consulate, applied to the proper Chinese authorities for and received from them a certificate of de- nationalisation in accordance with the Chinese law of nationality".