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grant the same rights to Italian subjects in China, subject to the limitations to be prescribed in its laws and regulations."
A similar declaration is annexed to the
Belgian, Danish and Portuguese treaties of the
same year.
This point is one of considerable importanoe
to our respective interests in China and it
appears to us most desirable that it should be
covered on a reciprocal basis during the present negotiations. This might be achieved by
amending the first sentence of Article 5 of the
American draft (Article 6 of ours) so as to add the right to acquire real property to those of travel, residence and trade and so as to
to ensure
that companies also enjoy this right. it would probably be ore convenient to deal with
it in an annexed exchange of notes. It is not
improbable that the Chinese Government will
themselves have observations to make upon Article
5 as it stands, and the discussion of these
will give us the opportunity to press for this
point to be covered.
I should greatly appreciate receiving the
views of the United States Government on this
question at their early convenience. I can of
course give you further details of the exact
technical position in the United Kingdom on
this subject if desired.