Times
10.10. 42.
FUTURE OF
CHINA
BRITISH AND U.S.
ACTION
FORMER PRIVILEGES
ABANDONED
The British and American Govern- ments have decided to relinquish all extra- |' territorial rights in China. The decision will apply immediately to the free parts of China, and will apply to the whole of liberated and reconstituted China after the war. The following announcement was issued in London last night:
His Majesty's Government have declared in public pronouncements on January 14, 1939, July 18, 1940, and June 11, 1941, that they were prepared at the conclusion of hostilities in the Far East to negotiate, with the Chinese Government for the abrogation of the extra- territorial rights and privileges hitherto enjoyed by their nationals in China. Similar pro- nouncements have been made by the United States Government, with whom his Majesty's Government have been in consultation.
IMMEDIATE ACTION
In order to emphasize their friendship and solidarity with their Chinese allies, his Majesty's Government have now decided to proceed further in this matter at once. Accordingly, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs made a communication to the Chinese Chargé d'Affaires in London on October 9, indicating that his Majesty's Government hoped in the 1 near future to open discussions with the Chinese Government and to present for their consideration a draft treaty for the immediate relinquishment of extra-territorial rights and privileges in China and for the settlement of questions intimately connected therewith.
His Majesty's Government have recently been engaged in an exchange of views with the United States Government on this question. They have been pleased to learn that a similar communication was made by the United States Government on the same day to the Chinese Ambassador in Washington, and the fact that the two Governments have found it possible to take similar action in this important matter has occasioned lively satisfaction in London.
EQUAL PARTNERS
CHINESE COOPERATION
AFTER THE WAR
FROM OUR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
The British Government are especially glad that this announcement, so long ex- pected, should be made in full cooperation with the United States. It is not simply 'parallel policy; it is joint policy. More than that, the settlement should help in preparing the way for the powerful and honourable cooperation which the British Government, no less than others, wish to see established after the war among the four great allied Powers, Britain, America, 'the Soviet Union, and China.
With the growth of Chinese national consciousness the extraterritorial rights of foreigners have become more and more irksome, and China's fight in this war has led the allies to decide now to announce their renunciation. All trade and other treaties now negotiated will be concluded between equal partners.
Extraterritorial rights were manifest in several ways. Most clearly of all, they were seen in the concessions-for example, in the International Settlement at Shanghai and in the British concessions at Tientsin, Canton, and the other foreign concessions at Hankow and elsewhere. Foreign residents in these concessions were under their own administra- tion, and subject to their own taxes and laws.
A LIBERAL POLICY
But the rights extended outside the con- cessions proper. A foreigner whose Govern- ment had extraterritorial rights was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of Chinese courts and officials wherever he might be in China. He could only be tried or sued according to his, own national laws, administered by officials of his own country. There were special rights of taxation, and foreign shipping could navi- gate the coastal and inland waters of China with the minimum of Chinese control.
The abolition of the "unequal treaties" was one of the main demands of the Chinese Nationalist Party, which came into prominence in 1925. The British Government as early as 1926 initiated a more liberal policy on the part of the Treaty Powers. Early in 1927" we handed back the concessions at Hankow, Chinkiang, and Kiukiang, setting an example for other Powers.
In 1928 all the principal Powers concluded new agreements with China; they abrogated the tariff restriction clauses in the old treaties that had been one of the main Chinese grievances. In 1931 we had almost completed a draft agreement concerning other concessions when Japan invaded Manchuria, and decisior was delayed.
Mr. Eden yesterday saw the Chinese Charge d'Affaires, as the Ambassador, Mr. Wellingtor Koo, is on leave.
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