CO129-501-8 General policy in China 30-11-1926 - 30-11-1926 — Page 144

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38.

43. Now at last the Japanese Government defined

its policy concerning the new taxes with precision in &

telegram received by the Japanese Minister at Peking on

the 11th December and communicated by him to Mr. OMalloy

The Japanese Government considered that we must refrain

from unnecessarily irritating the Chinese regional

authorities or from resorting to force against them, nc

matter whether they belonged to the North or the South.

We should, however, only invite their contempt if in

the endeavour to maintain a neutral attitude we allowed

ourselves carelessly to discard our treaty-rights and

the privileges which form the backbone of our inter-

national relationship with China. We should, therefore-

maintain these treaties in a clear and unmistakable man-

ner and, when treaties were violated, lodge protests

which, even though ineffective, would at least reserve

the rights of the Powers for the future and have a cer-

tain moral effect on the minds of the Chinese people.

If we were to accede to illegal taxation imposed by

Chinese regional authorities, they would assuredly im-

pose further illegal taxation of a more serious nature,

whenever they found themselves in need of military or

other funds. Moreover, the demand for the immediate

grant of the surtaxes could not be regarded as the

unanimous desire of the Chinese people as a whole. It

was even pointed out in Chinese circles that such an

increase of surtaxes, if effected at the wrong time or in the wrong manner, would only help to prolong civil strife in China. The immediate unconditional grant of

the Washington surtaxes would be tantamount to increas-

ing the military funds both of the southern and the

northern

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