CO129-501-3 Chinese situation- Protection of British subjects of Chinese race 23-10-1926 - 21-12-1927 — Page 114

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] 21

5 AUG 1927

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CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

114

IVED

[June 8, 1927.}

JU12927

SECTION 8.

FICE

No. 1.

[F 5318/1410/10]

(No. 399.) Sir,

Sir M. Lampson to Sir Austen Chamberlain.—(Received June 8.)

Peking, April 21, 1927. WITH reference to my telegram No. 598 of the 1st April, giving the instructions issued to Mr. Garstin for his guidance in dealing with the question of the application of Chinese laws in British courts in China and other cognate matters, I have the honour to transmit herewith copy of a report by Mr. Garstin of the proceedings of his commission to date.

2. Dealing with some of the points raised in this despatch I have decided that it would be useless in present circumstances to discuss in Peking the question of the recognition of the Chinese Nationality Law mentioned in paragraph 3. The question of dual nationality is one which is much more acute in the South, with its close proximity to Hong Kong and its large number of emigrants to the Straits Settle- ments, than in North China. In fact, in North China little trouble is experienced, and any working arrangement must be one that the South accepts voluntarily. For the time being there can be no discussion with the Nationalist Government, and this question must accordingly, I think, be left in abeyance, at any rate until pressed by the Northern Government.

As regards the question of taxation, referred to in paragraph 7, Dr. Koo, at one of our interviews, gave a half-promise that he would supply a list of such taxes as came within our offer or which he considered should be made applicable to British subjects, and it was my intention that Mr. Garstin should ascertain what legal validity any suggested taxes had. It will be observed that his Chinese colleagues have refused to discuss this question, and the Wai-chiao Pu have instead sent me a letter proposing the setting up of another commission to deal with taxation questions. I shall have the honour to report further on this point in a separate despatch.

4. Coming now to the main work of the legal commission, which is to ascertain the body of laws which comes within the terms of our offer, it will be observed (paragraph 4) that Mr. Garstin has endeavoured without success to obtain an answer to the question how far existing laws are recognised by the Nationalist Government in South China. I myself have never been able to elicit anything satisfactory in my conversations with Dr. Koo and Dr. Wang Chung-hui. They have always been evasive or have minimised the differences between North and South, but have always left me with the feeling that the division between the two is not only greater than they admit, but is, with an extremist faction in power in the South, also constantly growing. This is amply confirmed by Mr. Teichman in his despatch No. 30 of the 28th March, copy of which was sent to the Foreign Office direct from Hankow. In the face of Mr. Hsu Chien's statements, reported in that despatch, it is useless for the Peking Government to deny that, for the moment at any rate, there is a very definite split between North and South, even in judicial matters. This split is likely to continue and to grow so long as the Communists retain control of the Nationalist Government. In the circumstances, our offer to apply Chinese law may have to be reconsidered or suspended for a time, and I accordingly informed Mr. Garstin that when the Chinese delegates had supplied him with the list of laws and the texts and translations of them referred to in paragraph 4 of his despatch, he was at liberty to bring the work of his commission to a conclusion whenever he considered that there was nothing further to be gained by its continuance. I have, however, suggested that it might be advisable to arrange, if possible, some channel for the further supply of any information which may be required in the preparation of the amending Order in Council, which your telegram No. 269 of the 12th April states it is proposed to undertake at home.

5. The Wai-chiao Pu have now formally communicated to me a statement prepared by the Ministry of Justice showing "the laws and draft laws at present in force in China.' The Chinese commissioners have at the same time supplied this Legation with the volumes of laws, regulations, Supreme Court decisions, and

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