611.9331/70: Telegram
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 25—11:43 a.m.]
569. 1. Treaty was signed by Soong and myself this afternoon in the terms set forth in my telegram 567, July 24, 10 p.m.,2 with the following modifications:
- (a)
- The heading was changed to read: “Treaty regulating tariff relations between the United States of America and the Republic of China.”
- (b)
- In the second paragraph of article 1 the word territory was changed to territories.
- (c)
- In the concluding paragraph the new name Peiping was used instead of Peking.
2. Soong acted under authorization communicated to me in a letter of the following tenor, dated July 24th, from Y. L. Tong, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government.
“I am requested by Dr. C. T. Wang, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government, to officially inform you that Mr. T. V. Soong, Minister of Finance of the Nationalist Government, is fully empowered to negotiate and sign with you any treaty pertaining to China’s tariff autonomy and cognate questions.”
Soong has undertaken to obtain from Wang formal credentials for the purposes of record.
3. Soong now proposed and I have agreed that the treaty be made public midnight of this July 26th, Washington time, to [and?] noon of Friday, July 27th in China.
4. Simultaneously with signature of treaty we exchanged notes, on his part ad referendum, regarding abolition of likin; but he now [Page 478] informs me he has received instructions not to make such a declaration, and the exchange of notes is therefore to be considered non avenu.
5. Repeated to Tokyo together with my number 567, July 24, 10 p.m.
- Not printed.↩