Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 71

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

41

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.

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.

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.

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.

My Government has instructed me to say that the statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, telegraphed to the press of the United States on July 26th, to the effect that "all foreign interests in China purely for legitimate purposes will be duly respected" has been noted by it with pleasure as indicating that the Government of China has not failed to appre- ciate the value to its foreign relations of the factors above mentioned. My Government bids me add that it is therefore persuaded that the Government of China will concur in its belief based as it is upon the facts set forth in succeeding paragraphs, that the sudden abolition of the system of protection by its extraterritorial courts in the face of conditions prevailing in China to-day would in effect expose the property of American citizens to danger of unlawful seizure and place in jeopardy the liberty of the persons of American citizens.

The Chinese Government has, on several occasions during recent years, expressed the desire that the Powers relinquish the exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction over their citizens In the Note under acknowledgment reference is made to the position taken at the Washington Conference. It will be re- called that, in pursuance of the resolution adopted at that Conference, there was created a Commission to inquire into the present practice of extraterri-