793.003/308
The French Ambassador (Claudel) to the Acting Secretary of State
Note
Under date of February 6, the Embassy of Japan at Paris transmitted a note to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs which was also transmitted to the British and American Governments. That note sets forth the viewpoint of the Japanese Government on the question of extraterritoriality in China.
The Japanese Embassy at Paris informed the Ministry for Foreign Affairs that the document in question had been drawn up after a minute inquiry engaged in for several months by the various competent Japanese administrations and persons and that it constitutes the carefully drafted exposition of the viewpoint of the Japanese Government in a question so important for its interests.
A study of the Japanese note suggests certain comments to the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs of which the Embassy of France at Washington believes it useful to inform the Department of State:
The Japanese Government, agreeing with the French Government on the impossibility of proceeding to an immediate, complete and unconditional relinquishment of extraterritoriality, declares, as the French Government itself has declared, that it is ready to proceed, through negotiations, to the gradual suppression of these privileges under the indispensable conditions and guarantees which it is determined to demand of the Chinese Government.
Conformably to the suggestion of the British Government which had been expressed to the French Government by a note from the British Embassy at Paris dated November 15, 1929, the Japanese Government declares itself in favor of the gradual method of relinquishment by categories of jurisdiction; but, like the French Government, it does not believe it possible entirely to abandon the gradual method of relinquishment by geographical zones, such as is proposed by other countries. Thus, the Japanese Government is led to combine the two systems, a combination proposed on November 25, 1929, to the British Government by the French Government; for this [Page 405] reason, the Japanese Government considers that, when the time comes, there would be occasion first to accept Chinese jurisdiction for civil causes, then for criminal causes, it being understood that such reform would not immediately apply to certain territories. The latter would be subject thereto only at the last, after the experiment might have been made on other points as to the efficacy and impartiality of Chinese jurisdiction.
The territories to which the Japanese Government alludes are very probably the territories of concessions as well as the territories of the enterprise of the Chinese Eastern [South Manchuria] Railway where Japanese interests are too great and Japanese nationals too numerous for the Japanese Government to consent to the first experiment in the relinquishment of the guarantees of extraterritoriality being made there. Leased territories, such as Dalny99 and Kwangchow-wan, naturally do not come within the geographical categories contemplated above, the Japanese Government justly considering that leased territories could not be affected by a relinquishment of extraterritoriality; their situation might, if occasion arises, be regulated only by special agreements having no connection with the problem of the privileges of jurisdiction.
The French Government understands perfectly the desire of the Japanese Government to protect, so far as possible, certain restricted territories where its interests are important and its nationals numerous from experiments which might be unfortunate. The anxieties of the French Government in this respect are the same, and it would like not to have Chinese jurisdiction applied to the concessions and to railway enterprises until after a reasonable period allowing the modern Chinese courts to prove their efficacy and impartiality.
The French Government notes that the Japanese Government makes the suppression of extraterritoriality dependent on the pledge by the Chinese Government of foreign judges, the latter being capacitated to take part in proceedings and decisions of justice.
It further notes that the Japanese Government, like the French Government, attaches particular importance to the question of the complete opening of China. In the note addressed August 10, 1929, by the Minister of France at Peking to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of China, it is said:
“Taking into consideration the facts pointed out by the said Commission, the French Government considers that, in order to achieve conditions favorable to the relinquishment of the rights of extraterritoriality which its nationals enjoy by virtue of the treaty of 1858, it is indispensable that the Chinese Government actually proceed to the reform of its laws, of its judicial institutions and its manner [Page 406] of administrating justice, in conformity with the recommendations of the Commission, recommendations to which the Chinese Delegate gave his approval. It is when these reforms shall have been put into practice, that the right of residence and of owning real property and of engaging in commerce in the whole of China, the obligatory counterpart of the relinquishment of extraterritoriality, may constitute for French nationals an actual advantage equivalent to that which Chinese enjoy in France.”
This point of view is shared by the Japanese Government, since it believes that the opening of China should be effected in two stages, one after the relinquishment of extraterritoriality in civil matters which should have as its counterpart permission to foreigners to reside and traffic in the whole country; the other after the relinquishment of extraterritoriality in criminal matters, which should entail, on the basis of reciprocity, the right to real property.
In informing the Department of State of the way in which the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs interprets the note of the Japanese Government, the Embassy of France in the United States would be grateful to the Department of State if it would be so good as to give the Embassy its opinion on the question. If possible, the Embassy would also be glad to know the present status of the negotiations being conducted between the United States and China on the question of extraterritoriality.