Office of the Historian

793.003/708: Telegram

The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

Nanking, May 29, 1931—11 a.m.
[Received May 30—6:10 a.m.62]

1. I now have before me complete text of Sino-British treaty with the exception of article 22 on ratification which is yet to be agreed upon. This text represents all that has been agreed to between Sino-British negotiators. Having compared it with Department’s draft of April 271 have following comments to make.

2. Article 1. Opening words of Department’s draft appear below. I suggest use of following from British text:

“Except as otherwise provided by the present treaty nationals of the United States of America shall as from its coming into force be entitled to the protection, et cetera.”

3. Article 3. In paragraph 5 of this article American text reads “and at their discretion shall bring such observations to the notice of, et cetera.” British text reads “and at the request of any of the interested parties shall bring such observations to the notice of, et cetera.”

4. Article 18, Excluded areas. Text of British article in regard to this question as worked out between British Minister and Wang and referred to British Government for approval now reads:

  • “(1) Subjects of His Majesty in the areas of greater Shanghai, as shown on the attached map, shall not be amenable to the jurisdiction of the Chinese courts during the 5 years from the date of the coming into force of the present treaty. It is agreed that discussions will be entered into within the said period of 5 years on the subject of the arrangements to be made at the end of the said period. In the absence of a settlement of the question of jurisdiction by negotiation and agreement between the two high contracting parties at any time after the expiry of the said 5 years, subjects of His Majesty shall not become amenable to the jurisdiction of the Chinese courts until the expiry of 10 years from the coming into force of the present treaty.
  • (2) Subjects of His Majesty in the area at Tientsin, shown on the attached map, shall not be amenable to the jurisdiction of the Chinese courts until the expiry of 5 years from the date of the coming into force of the present treaty.
  • (3) Subjects of His Majesty in the areas above specified shall be liable for the payment of Chinese taxes as provided in article 6 of the present treaty, provided such taxation is equally paid by Chinese citizens and other foreign nationals in the said areas.”

[Page 869]

In this connection please see my telegram May 27, 5 p.m.63

5. Blanks in British article 21 communicated in my May 24, 9 a.m. now filled in as follows:

Blank, article 16; second blank, period of 10 years. Blank in additional paragraph to article 2 is 5 years and in additional paragraph to article 3, 5 years.

6. Agreed minute of interview which is not to be published contains following additional matter:

“Referring to the declaration attached to the treaty to the effect that the Chinese courts will ensure to the persons and property of subjects of His Majesty due protection in accordance with international law and the general practice of nations, Dr. Wang assured Sir Miles Lampson that it was to be understood that the said Chinese courts assuming jurisdiction over subjects of His Majesty would be strictly immune from external interference by any nonjudicial authority.

Dr. Wang informed Sir Miles Lampson, with reference to clause 5 of article 5 of the treaty, that it was of course to be understood that the courts would not intentionally discourage such applications by unnecessarily imposing the maximum fine.

Referring to clause 2 of article 14 of the treaty, Dr. Wang assured Sir Miles Lampson that it was to be understood that where such cases were dealt with outside the jurisdiction of the Chinese courts they would be dealt with by the competent courts of His Majesty.”

(Article 14 of British treaty is personal status article)

Johnson
  1. Telegram in three sections.↩
  2. Not printed.↩