EXTRATERRITORIALITY
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with the problem of jurisdiction over the persons and property of American citizens in China: My Government, has, in fact, for some time past given constant and sympathetic consideration to the national aspirations of the people of China, and it has repeatedly given concrete evidence of its desire to promote the realization of these aspirations in so far as action of the United States may contribute to that result. As long ago as the year 1903, in Article 15 of the Treaty concluded in that year between the United States and China, the American Government agreed that it would be prepared to relinquish the jurisdiction which it exercised over its nationals in China "when satisfied that the state of the Chinese laws, the arrangements for their ad- ministration, and other considerations warrant it in so doing. As recently as last year, the American Government gave very definite evidence of its desire to promote the realization of China's aspirations by concluding with the Government of China, on July 23, 1928, a Treaty by which the two countries agreed to cancellation of provisions in earlier treaties whereby China's authority in reference to Customs duties on goods imported into China by American nationals had been restricted.
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The exercise by the United States of jurisdiction over its citizens in China had its genesis in an early agreement that, because of differences be- tween the customs of the two countries and peoples, and differences between their judicial systems, it would be wise to place upon the American Govern- ment the duty of extending to American nationals in China the restraints and the benefits of the system of jurisprudence to which they and their fellow nationals were accustomed in the United States.
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My Government deems it proper at this point to remind the Government of China that this system of American jurisdiction as administered by the extraterritorial courts has never been extended by the United States beyond the purposes to which it was by the Treaties originally limited. Those pur- poses were the lawful control and protection of the persons and property of American citizens who have established themselves in China in good faith in accordance with the terms of the Treaties and with the knowledge and con sent of China in the normal development of the commercial and cultural rela- tions between the two countries. The United States has never sought to extend its sovereignty over any portion of the territory of China.
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Under the provisions of the Treaty of 1814, and other agreements concluded thereafter which established that system, American citizens have lived and have carried on their legitimate enterprises in China with benefit both to the Chinese and to themselves: They have engaged extensively in cultural and in commercial enterprises involving large sums of money and extensive pro- perties, and, as your Government has so graciously indicated in the Note under acknowledgement, there has grown up and existed between the peoples and the Governments of the two countries a friendship that has endured. The American Government believe that this condition of affairs has been due in large part to the manner in which the relations between the two peoples have been regulated under the provisions of these agreements, the existence of which has assured to the lives and property of American citizens in China the security so necessary to their growth and development.
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For the safety of life and property, the development and continuance of legitimate and beneficial business depend in the last resort, in China, as elsewhere, upon the certainty of protection from injury or confiscation by a system of known law consistently interpreted and faithfully enforced by an independent judiciary. Where such protection fails, the life and liberty of the individual become subject to the constant threat of unlawful attack, while his property suffers the ever-present danger of confiscation in whole or in part through arbitrary, administrative action. To exchange an assured and tried system of administration of justice, and under which it is acknowledged that life and property have been protected and commerce has grown and prospered, for uncertainties in the absence of an adequate body of law and of an experienced and independent judiciary would be fraught with danger in both of the foregoing respects.
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