500.A 4 e/276
The Chinese Minister ( Sze ) to the Secretary of State
Sir: Acting under instructions from my Government I have the honor to transmit to your Government an invitation to a Special Conference relating to the Chinese Customs Tariff from the Chinese Government as follows:
In accordance with Article XI [II] of the Treaty between the United States of America, Belgium, the British Empire, China, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Portugal relating to the Chinese Customs Tariff signed at Washington on February 6, 1922,53 a Special Conference shall meet in China within three months after the coming into force of this Treaty on a day and at a place to be designated by the Chinese Government with a view to continuing and completing the work of the Washington Conference relative to Chinese Customs questions.
In connection with the said Treaty it may be recalled that on January 5, 1922, at the 17th meeting of the Committee on Pacific and Far Eastern Questions of the Washington Conference, the Chinese Delegation in giving their assent thereto declared that it was their intention to bring up again the question of the restoration [Page 840] to China of her tariff autonomy for consideration on all appropriate occasions in the future. In pursuance of the above declaration the Chinese Government proposes that the said question be also brought up at the forthcoming conference and expects some arrangement will be made to remove the tariff restrictions hitherto imposed upon China.
The said Treaty as provided in Article X, thereof, takes effect August 5, 1925, being the date of the deposit at Washington of all the Ratifications of the Treaty. Accordingly the Chinese Government in pursuance of the article referred to above has the honor to state that it intends to have the Special Conference meet on October 26, 1925, at the City of Peking, in which the Government of the United States is hereby invited to participate.
Besides instructing our Legation at Washington to transmit the above invitation to your Government, I have the honor to request that you be good enough to take note of the above invitation and communicate to the Waichiao Pu at Peking the names and titles of the representatives of your Government as soon as possible.
Accept [etc.]