793.94/1198
The Japanese Ambassador (Shidehara) to the Secretary of State
Outline of the Proposed Terms of Settlement Respecting the Shantung Question51
1. The leasehold of Kiaochau and the rights originally granted to Germany with regard to the fifty kilometre zone around the Kiaochau Bay shall be restored to China.
2. The Japanese Government will abandon plans for the establishment of a Japanese Exclusive Settlement or of an International Settlement in Tsingtao: provided that China engages to open of its own accord the entire leased territory of Kiaochau as a port of trade, and to permit the nationals of all foreign countries freely to reside and to carry on commerce, industry, agriculture or any other lawful pursuits within such territory, and that she further undertakes to respect the vested rights of all foreigners.
China shall likewise carry out forthwith the opening of suitable cities and towns within the Province of Shantung for residence and trade of the nationals of all foreign countries.
Regulations for the opening of places under the foregoing clauses shall be determined by the Chinese Government upon consultation with the Powers interested.
3. The Kiaochau-Tsinanfu Railway and all mines appurtenant thereto shall be worked as a joint Sino-Japanese enterprise.
4. Japan will renounce all preferential rights with regard to foreign assistance in persons, capital and material, stipulated in the Sino-German Treaty of March 6, 1898.
5. Rights relating to the extensions of the Kiaochau-Tsinanfu Railway, as well as options for the construction of the Yentai-Weihsien Railway will be thrown open for the common activity of the International Financial Consortium in China.
6. The status of the Custom House at Tsingtao as forming an integral part of the general customs system of China shall be made clearer than under the German regime.
[Page 618]7. Public property used for administrative purposes within the leased territory of Kiaochau will, in general, be transferred to China: it being understood that the maintenance and operation of public works and establishments shall be previously arranged between the Japanese and Chinese Governments.
8. With a view to arranging detailed plans for carrying into effect the terms of settlement above indicated, and for the purpose of adjusting other matters not embodied therein, the Japanese and Chinese Governments shall appoint their respective commissioners as soon as possible.
9. The Japanese Government have on more than one occasion declared willingness to proceed to the recall of Japanese troops now stationed along the Kiaochau-Tsinanfu Railway upon organization by China of a police force to assume protection of the railway. As soon as the Chinese Government shall have organized such a police force and notified the Japanese Government to that effect, Japanese troops will be ordered to hand over to the Chinese police the charge of the railway protection, and thereupon immediately to withdraw. It is, however, to be understood that the question of the organization of a special police guarding the Kiaochau-Tsinanfu Railway shall be reserved for future consideration between Japan and China.
- Text of outline of terms corrected to agree with revised translation received from the Japanese Embassy on Sept. 17.↩