793.003 C 73/7
The Secretary of State to the Chinese Minister (Sze)
My Dear Mr. Minister: In your communication of April 13, 1922, receipt of which I have the honor to acknowledge, you inquire on behalf of your Government whether it is agreeable to the Government of the United States to have the meeting of the commission on extraterritoriality provided for in a resolution adopted by the Washington Conference on December 10 last, postponed until the fall of 1923.
In reply I beg to say that it would seem to be in the interest of all concerned to have before the commission when it shall assemble, full information regarding the codes of Chinese law, procedure and judicial administration; and as your note states that the Chinese Government cannot complete before that time the technical work of this character which it desires to prepare for the use of the commission, the proposed postponement of the meeting of the commission until [Page 823] the fall of 1923 would be entirely agreeable to this Government, if it be also acquiesced in by the other powers.
I have, in conformity with what I understand to be your wish, informed the American diplomatic officers to those powers, by cable,94 of this reply and have instructed them to ascertain the views of the governments to which they are respectively accredited.
I am [etc.]
- Telegrams were sent, Apr. 25, to Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Japan.↩