CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942 — Page 115

F4369/828/10.

With the Compliments

of the

Under Secretary of Stɛte for Foreign Affaing

Colonial Office

W. B. L. Monson, Esq.

FOREIGN OFFICE, 3.4.1.

69

5th November, 1942.

115

RECEIVED

copied to: 10.

- 6NOV1942 C.

BIT.

MUST.

My dear Ambassador,

BO

Tsy.

With reference to the extraterritoriality question in DO

China, our Ambassador at Chungking has called attention to the

fact that the future rights of our nationals to acquire real

property are not at present covered by the draft treaties.

Article 4 of the American draft (Article 5 of ours)

safeguards only existing rights and titles. In so far as

the rights granted by the provisions of the old treaties

for the acquisition of land on perpetual lease in the

treaty ports can be held to be not inconsistent with the

present treaty, Article 7 (Article 8 of our draft)

indirectly preserves this right. But neither of these

provisions gives our nationals the right to acquire real

property throughout the country. Nor does the right to

reside and carry on trade everywhere in China accorded in

Article 5 carry with it the right to ownership of real property, although this may have been the underlying intention of the United States Government.

I would observe that the treaty concluded with China

in 1928 by Italy has annexed to it a declaration by the

Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs as follows:

His Excellency

The Hon. John G. Winant,

etc., etc., etc.

*In /