CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942 — Page 135

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them to provide for rights to engage in comstal

trade and inland navigation to be granted on a

reciprocal basis. H. M. G. would therefore wish

to discuss these questions at a later stage with

a view to arriving at a reciprocal agreement

possibly in the course of the negotiations for a

comprehensive treaty of commerce and navigation,

such as Article 7 of the American draft (Article

8 is ours) foresees. Meanwhile, the matter is not

one of immediate practical importance, and unless

the Chinese Government are particularly anxious to

deal with this question at once and to insert provisions

into the present treaties, H.M.G. would greatly prefer

not to enter into detailed negotiations on this subject

at the present time. But they would be prepared to tell

the Chinese Government that they will not claim the

continuance of their existing unilateral rights and

that, pending the negotiations for a comprehensive

treaty, they hope that the Chinese Government will not

prohibit British shipping from engaging in inland

navigation and, when this again becomes possible, the

coastal trade of China, especially as both in the U.K.

and the Colonies Chinese shipping is permitted to engage

in these trades,

It seems likely that if the matter were dealt with

on these lines time would be saved in negotiating the

treaty as a whole. But in any case it is the opinion

of the Foreign Office that the line just proposed nakes

a better tactical approach to this matter with

Chinese Government, If, however, the Chinese Government

were to insist on provisions being inserted into the

present treaty, an article on the general lines of that

proposed in the message from the Department of State