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(2) The questions of inland navigation, etc. We have given "eful thought to the questions of the special rights which naval vessels of the U.S. have been accorded in the waters of China. The se questions were raised by the Chinese Foreign Minister orally before his recent departure for China; they were raised again orally by the Chinese Minister Counselor on October 26th; they were raised in th document which the Chinese Ambassador handed to me on November 10th and they were raised for the fourth time by the Minister Counselor on November 13th.
As indicated in the Department's message of October 27th, Paragraph 2, our inclination in general has been toward including in the treaty some appropriate provisions on these subjects, especiall if the Chinese should so desire. It has become apparent that the Chinese definitely desire the inclusion of such provisions in the treaty or in a supplementary exchange of notes. Our impression is that the Chinese will be insistent in this respect because, for one thing, the rights in China which we possess in regard to coastal trade and inland navigation (including navigation of inland waters by our naval vessels) are special and unilateral rights and, for another thing, those rights, although not actually related to extraterritoriality, are strongly associated in both the Chinese official and public mind with extraterritoriality.
Throughout the course of our talks with Chinese officials we have repeated and emphasized that we do not have any thought of seeking to reserve or retain or to obtain from China anything that it not normal and usual in international relations; that it has been our concept and assumption that the brief treaty would once and for all eliminate the anomalies in the relationships between the two countries; and that the primary objective of the treaty is to accomplish the abolition of extraterritorial and other special rights and to take care of such additional matters as require attention because of the abolition of rights of a special character.
It would be most unfortunate if the signing of the treaty should be delayed because of difficulty over questions relating to any special rights which it has been our intention in general to take care of by means of the treaty. In all probability the existence of difficulties in regard to important issues would not remain long unknown to the public in China or in this country. Any unwarranted delay in the signing of the treaty would of itself probably furnish indication of the existence of controversy or other important difficulty. We feel sure that public opinion here would be adversely critical of any development which might have the appearance of an endeavour to retain important special and unilateral rights which we for our part are not in position to grant to the Chinese.
In the light of the above, we would suggest that the British Government might wish to give further consideration to the question of adopting an article along the general line of ours. In this connection we have of course taken note of Mr. Eden's statement in his letter of November 12th mentioned abive that, if the inclusion in the treaty of such additional article should become unavoidable, the British Government would be agreeable there to although it would wish to bring the wording in the British draft in line with comparable provisions in other British treaties.
We accept the suggestion of the British Foreign Office that the words "overseas merchant shipping" be substituted for the words
"foreign commerce'
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