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On various occasions during the year 1930 I reminded the
Minister for Foreign Affairs of these proposals and enquired whether he was prepared to take the matter up. Dr.Wang had
on each occasion replied that the matter had been referred to
the Ministry of Interior, where it was being studied, and that he would look into it and let me have a reply in due
course. It was, however, evident that the Chinese
Government were not interested in discussions of this
question. They had nothing to gain by reaching a settlement, which would moreover involve a departure from the sacred
principles of their Nationality Law. And they were therefore quite content to leave matters as they were, the more so as they regarded the question, if they gave it serious consideration at all, as submerged in the
extrality issue.
3. The question thus remained dormant for the next three years, the only development being the receipt of Mr. Henderson's instructions (Foreign Office despatch No.776 of August 25th, 1930) that when negotiations on the subject
were resumed I should endeavour to secure the consent of
the Chinese Government to the application to British protected persons of Chinese race of any arrangement that might be agreed upon with regard to British subjects of
Chinese race.
4. As reported in separate despatches, when passing
through Malaya on my return journey to Chinɛ in January, I met Sir Cecil Clementi and the principal officers of the
Singapore Government for a discussion of current questions
of mutual concern. This question of the protection in
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China