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  4. Document 438

793.003/242: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in China ( Perkins )

Washington , January 4, 1930—8 p.m.

5. Your 10, January 3, 4 p.m.

1. The statements made by you to your colleagues as reported in your paragraph 2 are approved.

For your further information and guidance, the Department quotes below the text, with one minor alteration of phraseology, of a statement expressing views of the American Government which was read to the Chinese Minister by the Chief of the Far Eastern Division on December 28 before the Department had been informed of the Chinese Government’s declaration of that date.

[Here follows text of undated statement printed in Foreign Relations, 1929, volume II, page 665.]

The Department has examined with care the declaration of December 28 and the statement of December 30.43 This examination leads to the conclusion that the Chinese Government, having declared that beginning January 1, 1930, foreigners in China shall obey Chinese law, has at the same time expressed its willingness to negotiate with regard to measures for the abolition of extraterritorial jurisdiction. The Department does not discover in this action any repudiation of [Page 359] existing treaty provisions. The Department perceives no objection to the signalizing of the date January 1, 1930, as a date for the beginning of the process of gradual abolition of extraterritorial rights, it being understood that the process will be by steps which shall be agreed upon. The Department considers it advisable, instead of objecting to or criticising the decree and statement, to concentrate emphasis on the points that the Chinese have not decreed extraterritoriality abolished and have affirmed their willingness to work the problem out by processes of negotiation and agreement. It will continue to be this Government’s position that we will gladly cooperate with the Chinese in an effort to arrive at and carry out a solution by agreement. The discussions with the Chinese Minister here will be continued.

Cotton
  1. See telegrams of December 28 and 30, 1929, from the Consul at Nanking, Foreign Relations, 1929, vol. ii, pp. 666 and 668.↩