Statement by the Acting Secretary of State, July 19, 19401
In response to inquiries from press correspondents with regard to the British Prime Minister’s comments upon the question of extraterritoriality in China included in his statement of July 18, the Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Sumner Welles, commented as follows:
“The most recent statement of this Government on this subject is contained in a note presented on December 31, 1938, to the Japanese Government,2 which mentions inter alia the progress made toward the relinquishment of certain rights of a special character which the United States together with other countries has long possessed in China. In 1931 discussions of the subject between China and each of several other countries, including the United States, were suspended because of the occurrence of the Mukden incident and subsequent disrupting developments in 1932 and 1935 in the relations between China and Japan. In 1937 this Government was giving renewed favorable consideration to the question when there broke out the current Sino-Japanese hostilities, as a result of which the usual processes of government in large areas of China were widely disrupted.
“It has been this Government’s traditional and declared policy and desire to move rapidly by process of orderly negotiation and agreement with the Chinese Government, whenever conditions warrant, toward the relinquishment of extraterritorial rights and of all other so-called ‘special rights’ possessed by this country as by other countries in China by virtue of international agreements. That policy remains unchanged.”