CO129-529-5 China- extraterritoriality 23-11-1931 - 31-12-1931 — Page 109

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Chinese may block negotiations on the subject of the arrangements to be made on the expiry of that period, to the end that the international settlement, except in so far as the Land Regulations otherwise provide, may

The Foreign then fall under Chinese jurisdiction. Office agree that there is much force in this criticism. It is true, as has recently been pointed out in Mr. Justice Feetham's Report, that the extra-territorial privileges of the leading nationals in Shanghai are, to a very large extent, the foundation on which rests the foreign municipal administration of the international settlement. The Foreign Office, therefore, share the State Department's view that it is desirable that extra- territorial privileges should not be surrendered in Shanghai until a fresh agreement has been reached, making appropriate arrangements for the future municipal It may, administration of the international settlement. however, prove very difficult to secure the assent of the Chinese Government to the continuance of extra- territorial privileges in Shanghai for an indefinite period. Mr. Justice Feetham, in the Report referred to above, has suggested that there should be such an indefinite period, to be measured not in years but in decades, and he has laid down conditions precedent of such a character that the period might well extend to generations. The probable result of these recommendations may be to arouse the suspicions of the Chinese upon this point, and strengthen their objections to the indefinite continuance of extra-territorial privileges

in Shanghai.

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As