Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 198

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SINO-FOREIGN TREATIES

promulgated in Indo-China and shall come there into force at the same time as in the three Provinces of Yunnan, Kwangsi and Kwangtung, two months after the exchange of ratifications.

Article XI. The present Convention has been drawn up in Chinese and French, both texts having been carefully compared and verified.

In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention in duplicate and have affixed thereto their seals.

Done at. Nanking this sixteenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth

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:

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year of the Republic of China, corresponding to the sixteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and thirty.

(L. S.) (Signed) CHENGTING T. WANG.

(L. S.) (Signed) D. DE MARTEL.

RENDITION OF WEIHAIWEI

On July 1, 1898, the Territory and Port of Weihaiwei were leased to Great Britain by the Manchu Government for "so long a period as Port Arthur shall remain in the occupation of Russia." Great Britain at the Washington Con- ference undertook under certain conditions to restore Weihaiwei to China, and in 1923, the former Peking Government caused a commission to be organized under Mr. M. T. Liang to negotiate with the British Government for its rendition. An agreement was duly reached, but owing to the collapse of the then Chinese Cabinet, it was not signed.

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When the final negotiations were initiated beween Dr. C. T. Wang and Sir Miles Lampson, the above-mentioned draft Agreement was practically scrapped. A new Convention and Agreement were initialled on February 13, 1930, and formally signed at Nanking on April 18, 1930. The exchange of ratifications was effected on October 1, 1930, and the transfer of Weihaiwei to Chinese control took place on the same day. Mr. Wang Chia-chen, Administra- tive Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Sir Reginald F. Johnston, British Commissioner for Weihaiwei, officiated at the ceremony.

The following is the text of the Convention and Agreement signed between Dr. C. T. Wang and Sir Miles Lampson:

Convention and Agreement for the Rendition of Weihaiwei. (Signed at Nanking, April 18th, 1930).

His Excellency, the President of the National Government of the Re- public of China, and

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His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India.

Desiring that the territory of Weihaiwei leased by China to His Britannic Majesty under the Convention of July 1, 1898, should be restored in full sovereignty to China, have resolved to conclude a Convention for that purpose and to that end have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

:

His Excellency the President of the National Government of the Re-

public of China:

Dr. Chengting T. Wang, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Re-

public of China;

His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and, the British

Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India:

His

Sir Miles Wedderburn Lampson, K.C.M.G., C.B., M.V.O.,

Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China;