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first unilateral action. On the foreign side the position in regard to the negotiations was unchanged, except that China had fixed yet another time limit, namely, the end of 1931, within which a settlement was finally to be reached. It was not to be expected that, granted reasonable stability of government, the responsible Chinese political leaders would, when the time came, rest content with another paper gesture like the mandate of the preceding year.
Resumption of Negotiations on May 8, after Issue of Mandate.
45. By this time we were approaching the completion of our task of building up the general body of the treaty, but a certain amount of work had still to be done on various outstanding points, including the difficult and contentious matter of personal status; and it remained to be seen, when we resumed contact after the opening of the People's Convention and the issue of the Chinese Government mandate and the statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the subject of extra-territoriality, whether we were to continue our work in the same spirit as before, or whether, with the removal of the incentive of the fateful date, the 5th May, we should find the Chinese negotiators less forthcoming and anxious to reach a settlement. Mr. Teichman actually resumed his discussions with Mr. Hsü-Mo on the 8th May, and found no apparent difference in the Chinese attitude, good progress again being made. A number of drafting amendments, which the Foreign Office desired to see introduced into the agreed texts, were for the greater part disposed of. The remaining articles of the treaty, beyond those already agreed upon, were discussed, and numbered from 13 to 22, thus definitely deciding the form of the treaty. Amongst these articles and notes discussed and tentatively agreed upon at this time were those concerning rights of residence, the abrogation of conflicting clauses in the existing treaties, provision for an authoritative French text, the publication of translations of the principal Chinese laws, and the question of personal status cases.
Discussions concerning Personal Status Cases.
46. As regards this latter subject, personal status, the Foreign Office had proposed a number of amendments in the text tentatively agreed upon on the 27th April, thus necessitating the reopening of the whole question, with curious results illustrating the difficulties of conducting negotiations, meant to be as far as possible identical, simultaneously at Nanking and Washington. When Mr. Teichman on the 4th May had discussed the proposed amendments with Mr. Hsü-Mo, the latter had stated at the outset that the Chinese did not under- stand why His Majesty's Government were so particular in seeking to retain in their own hands these personal status cases when the American Government had offered to concede full jurisdiction in such matters to the Chinese courts, provided they were satisfied with the adequacy of the relevant Chinese laws. In view of this development, which could not fail seriously to prejudice our position in regard to this article, Mr. Teichman thought it best merely to leave our new proposals with Mr. Hsü-Mo without making for the moment any serious attempt to reach agreement on them. Subsequently I explained the situation to my American colleague, with the result that the State Department withdrew the draft they had submitted to the Chinese Minister in Washington and substituted for it one on the lines of our tentatively agreed draft of the 27th April, thus again, unwittingly, undermining our position, this time in regard to securing the amendments which the Foreign Office desired to see inserted in that draft. In the circumstances, I was satisfied with, and had no hesitation in submitting for your approval, the new draft of the 8th May, agreed upon by Mr. Teichman and Mr. Hsü-Mo, which embodied most, but not all, of the Foreign Office amendments.
Visit to Shanghai and Meetings with Joint Committee, May 14, 15 and 16.
47. On the 12th May, as I had learned that the instructions for which I was waiting could not reach me for some days, I proceeded to Shanghai, in order to take the opportunity of this pause in the negotiations to discuss local questions with His Majesty's consul-general, and once more to explain the position reached to the local Joint Committee of the British Chamber of Commerce and China Association. I met the Joint Committee on the 14th May, and, as usual, informed
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