893.05/162: Telegram
The Minister in China ( MacMurray ) to the Secretary of State
777. Senior Minister has furnished me the following memorandum of a conversation which he had on the 29th with Mr. Tsien Tai, Councilor of the Judicial Yuan, who called on him in behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs:
“He began by saying that the Minister for Foreign Affairs greatly regretted the delay in the negotiations about the Provisional Court caused by the interested Ministers who kept arguing about the way of procedure instead of mapping out these negotiations. Now only four [Page 691] months remained before the expiration of the Shanghai rendition agreement. Dr. C. T. Wang therefore proposed that the interested Ministers proceed to Nanking at their earliest convenience to start the negotiations at once or else appoint their personal representatives for that purpose, stating at the same time that the appointment as such of the Consuls General at Shanghai would not be acceptable. These could only accompany the Ministers or their diplomatic representatives in the capacity of technical experts.
Monsieur Oudendijk replied that the delay which unfortunately had occurred was due to the Minister for Foreign Affairs not accepting the very practical proposal of a joint commission in Shanghai for carrying on the preliminary discussions and drafting a new agreement. Had this idea been acted upon, the bulk of the labor would by now have been accomplished. But it was Dr. C. T. Wang who insisted upon arguing about the trifles and a great deal of valuable time had thus been lost.
Next, Monsieur Oudendijk pointed out that before the expiration of the rendition agreement, which the Kiangsu government had denounced, it was absolutely necessary that some kind of an understanding with the Central Government should be arrived at as it was clear that in the absence thereof a reversion to the status quo ante would be the only way to get out of an impasse embarrassing to all parties concerned.
It was, therefore, of the greatest importance that the Chinese Government, having refused the preliminary discussion in Shanghai, should now inform the interested Ministers, as soon as possible, of its intentions and proposals in order that negotiations thereon be commenced without further delay and the matter be settled before the end of the year.
Monsieur Oudendijk added that on receipt of these proposals the Ministers would be prepared to open the discussion immediately.
Monsieur Tsien Tai replied that it would be impossible for one party at the coming conference to make its proposals known before the opening of the conference and that therefore it was Dr. C. T. Wang’s wish that the Ministers should first come to Nanking or appoint their representatives and there learn the ideas of the Chinese Government.
Monsieur Oudendijk said that there was here no question of an international conference but merely of an ordinary correspondence and an exchange of views between the Government and the accredited Ministers of the same nature as had been going on for years. He asked how it would be possible, now that the practical way of dealing with the question by preliminary discussions in Shanghai had been rejected, for the Ministers to appoint representatives before they even knew what these representatives would be called upon to discuss; how could they give them any instructions? Therefore, it was essential that Dr. C. T. Wang send a written reply to the note of August 2nd and make definite and concrete proposals. As to the question who could or could not be appointed as representatives of those Ministers who would be prevented from attending the coming discussions in person, this, Monsieur Oudendijk emphasized, was a matter for the interested [apparent omission] themselves to consider and decide and no rule thereanent could be laid down by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
[Page 692]To a question from Monsieur Tsien Tai whether the Ministers would be ready to open negotiations at once whatever the nature of Dr. C. T. Wang’s proposal concerning the Provisional Court might be, Monsieur Oudendijk replied that personally he would feel inclined to answer this in the affirmative.
Finally Monsieur Oudendijk made it clear to Monsieur Tsien Tai that whatever Dr. Wang’s proposals might be it is inconceivable that the interested foreign powers would be found willing to acquiesce in an abolition pure and simple of the Provisional Court and a replacement thereof by an ordinary Chinese court without some sort of a guarantee.”
- Telegram in five sections.↩