CO129-557-9 British protection of companies in China 26-3-1936 - 27-2-1937 — Page 132

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7.

operate in China. Its position within the Empire would

remain untouched but the Soviet Government would have to

make different arrangements for conducting its trade in

this country, and so would the other national interests

affected by the amen dim on t.

13.

I should mention here that I have not lost

sight of the objections raised in Foreign office despatch

to ľeking No.611 of the 30th August, 1934, but I would

respectfully submit that the above scheme goes far to

remove those objections. It was stated that all attempts

to deal with this question broke down before the imposs-

ibility of defining what is really a British company,

Well, I now offer a practical definition, so far as

protection in this country is concerned, based on the

French model. And under the proposed scheme there would

be no question of allowing the Chinese to claim juris-

diction over British companies containing a foreign

element, because those British companias over which we did

not wish to assume jurisdiction would be prohibited from

operating here at all.

14. There is one very difficult question which will

require careful consideration, namely companies formed

by persons of Chinese race, some of whom might claim to

be British. Your Excellency is aware that a large

number of Chinese, otherwise indistinguishable from the

inhabitants of this country, claim British nationality,

when it suits them, by virtue of birth in Hongkong or

elsewhere in the Empire. Protection has hitherto been

withdrawn from these companies but they remain under

British jurisdiction with the anomalous results we are

/now