Office of the Historian

793.003/227: Telegram

The Consul at Nanking (Meyer) to the Secretary of State

Nanking, December 28, 1929—10 p.m.
[Received December 28—7:33 p.m.]

Following is the English translation of a mandate issued by the National Government at 5 today and furnished to Bucknell by personal note from C. T. Wang:

“In every full sovereign state, foreigners, as well as its nationals, are equally amenable to its laws and to the jurisdiction of its tribunals. This is an essential attribute of state sovereignty and a well-established principle of international law.

For more than eighty years China has been bound by the system of extraterritoriality, which has prevented the Chinese Government from exercising its judicial power over foreigners within its territory. It is unnecessary to state here the defects and disadvantages of such a system. As long as extraterritoriality is not abolished, so long will China be unable to exercise her full sovereignty. For the purpose of restoring her inherent jurisdictional sovereignty, it is hereby decided and declared that on and after the first day of the first month of the nineteenth year of the Republic (January 1, 1930) all foreign nationals in the territory of China who are now enjoying extraterritorial privileges shall abide by the laws, ordinances, and regulations duly promulgated by the Central and Local Governments of China. The Executive Yuan and the Judicial Yuan are hereby ordered to instruct the individuals [Ministries] concerned to prepare as soon as possible a plan for the execution of this mandate [Page 667] and to submit it to the Legislative Yuan for examination and deliberation with a view to its promulgation, fulfillment50 and enforcement.”51

I am reliably informed that the plan referred to in the last sentence of the mandate will be promulgated on December 30th or 31st.

The Legation, Shanghai, Hankow and Canton informed.

Meyer
  1. The word “fulfillment” was inserted erroneously.↩
  2. The Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, Department of State, noted, on December 30, 1929, that “It is believed that this is a comparatively harmless declaration; that its comparative mildness is probably in part a result of the British effort; and that we may expect to find the plan rather elastic and indefinite in consequence of intimations which have been given regarding the attitude of other governments.”↩