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  4. Document 691

500.A 4 e/276

The Secretary of State to the Chinese Minister ( Sze )

Washington , August 21, 1925.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of August 19, 1925, in which you invited the attention of this Government to 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, which was signed at Washington on February 6, 1922, and which came into effect on August 5, 1925, by the deposit of all of the ratifications at Washington, as provided for in Article X thereof. You referred to Article II of the Treaty, which provides for the convening of a Special Conference, to prepare the way for the speedy abolition of likin and for the fulfillment of the other conditions laid down in Article VIII of the Treaty of September 5, 1902, between Great Britain and China,54 in Articles IV and V of the Treaty of October 8, 1903, between the United States and China,55 and in Article I of the Supplementary Treaty of October 8, 1903, between Japan and China,56 with a view to levying the surtaxes provided for in these articles; and in which it is further stated that the Special Conference shall be [Page 841] composed of representatives of the Signatory Powers, and of such other Powers as may desire to participate and may adhere to the present Treaty, in accordance with the provisions of Article VIII, in sufficient time to allow their representatives to take part, and that it shall meet in China within three months after the coming into force of the present Treaty, on a day and at a place to be designated by the Chinese Government. You were so good as to inform me that your Government has designated October 26, 1925, as the date of the Special Conference and the city of Peking as the place where it shall meet.

I have the honor to inform you that I have carefully noted the date and place designated by your Government for the meeting of the Special Conference and that the representatives of the United States Government will be prepared to take part in its deliberations on October 26, 1925.

Accept [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
  1. British and Foreign State Papers, 1901–1902, vol. xcv, p. 39.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, 1903, p. 91.↩
  3. British and Foreign State Papers, 1902–1903, vol. xcvi, p. 578.↩