35
16
To Colonial Office, September 16, 1911. (Confiden-
tial Print 11426, No. 11.)
Colonial Office, September 30,
remained exactly as it had always been, with the exception that provincial officials contesting the claims of foreign consuls were able to appeal to an authoritative statement of the law of China as set out in the terms of an Imperial Edict (see Appendix I, case No. 17). The immediate effect was that His Majesty's Government reverted to the view abandoned in 1903 that an agreement would have to be negotiated with the Chinese Govern- 1911. (Confiden- ment. Instructions were accordingly sent to Sir John Jordan in October 1911 to suggest to the Chinese Government, whenever a favourable oppor- tunity should arise, the appointment of a joint commission by Great Britain and China to examine the whole question and draw up recommendations for the consideration of the two Governments. But, as in the period 26, 1911. (Confi. 1886-1903, an opportune moment for opening negotiations with the Chinese
Government has not yet arrived.
tial Print 11426, No. 12.)
To Sir John
Jordan, October
dential Print
11426, No. 13.)
Sir J. Jordan to
Sir F. Campbell, February 19, 1911. (Confidential Print
11426, No. 5.)
Sir A. Johnstone, April 19, 1911. Sir A. Johnstone, August 30, 1911. Sir J. Jordan, August 24, 1911. (Confidential Print 11426, Nos. 7, 9
and 10.)
Sir B. Alston,
1922.
No. 374, June 27, [T 9093/593/10.],
j
To Sir J. Jordan, No. 174, June 17,
1914.
25. The Netherlands Government, who were faced with a similar problem to our own, found little difficulty in negotiating a modus vivendi with the Chinese Government, which is said to have worked smoothly ever since. Early in 1911 Sir J. Jordan reported that the Chinese were extremely anxious to obtain the right of establishing consulates in the Dutch possessions, and the Netherlands Government promised to entertain the request on the condition that an understanding was reached with regard to
the treatment in China of Dutch subjects of "Chinese descent. Sir John Jordan suggested that we might watch the result of the Dutch negotiations before entering into negotiations ourselves. The Consular Convention between Holland and China was duly concluded on the 8th May, 1911. An exchange of notes appended to the Convention provided that any doubts which might arise with regard to the words Chinese subjects" and "Netherlands subjects" in the text should be settled in accordance with the laws obtaining in those possessions or colonies. Nothing more was reported, however, as to the negotiations in regard to Dutch Chinese in China, and it was only 11 years later that the Foreign Office learned that the Consular Convention had been followed by the negotiation of a modus vivendi on the 20th June, 1911. A copy of this document will be found in Appendix III. Under this arrangement," reported the Minister in 1922 " lists of Dutch subjects of Chinese origin residing in China are regularly furnished by the Dutch consuls to the Chinese authorities. I am informed by my Netherlands colleague that this arrangement has on the whole worked satisfactorily ever since. In the event of a Dutch subject of Chinese origin arriving in China and failing to register within the prescribed period of three months, he is, it appears, simply disowned by the Dutch authorities. But if he is registered and his name then duly communicated to the Chinese authorities, the latter apparently recognise him as a foreign national. As regards the qualifications which entitled a person of Chinese origin to Dutch nationality under this arrangement, the apposite clause of a law, dated the 10th February, 1910, regulating the status as Netherlands subjects of the population of the Dutch East Indies, provided that persons born in the Dutch East Indies of parents settled there were Netherlands subjects. The law further provided that the status of Netherlands subject was lost, in the event of sojourn in a foreign country, by omitting to give notice to a Netherlands consular officer in that country within three months after arriving, and in case of continued sojourn by omitting to repeat that notice within the first three months of every calendar year. The status of Netherlands subject thus lost could only be reacquired by settling in Netherlands-India.
26. The British position, unfortunately, owing to a fresh series of misconceptions, went from bad to worse. In 1914, when the Governor of Hong Kong desired to expel "undesirables" from the Colony, he was prevented from doing so by the fact that many of them had been registered as British subjects in China, though, of course, they had not been provided with the certificates prescribed in the 1904 instructions. How this arose is explained in paragraph 21 (5). When the question was examined, however, the circumstances in which these instructions had been issued were apparently entirely forgotten. The Order in Council laid down that British subjects arriving in China must register themselves at a British
W