793.003/1025: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:32 p.m.]
6870. I give below the text of a letter from Mr. Eden dated December 4. Enclosed with the letter were a revised draft of the British treaty on extraterritoriality dated November 30 consisting of 5 capsize pages single spaced, as well as a draft supplementary note and annex consisting of 2½ cap-size pages, single spaced. I am forwarding these by airgram [airmail]99 but will telegraph them if the Department so instructs me.
Begin Mr. Eden’s letter of December 4:
“Many thanks for your letters of the 28th (Department’s 5960, 5961, 59731) and 30th November (Department’s 60222) concerning extraterritoriality.
With regard to the suggestion made in the second message enclosed in your letter of the 28th November, we readily concur in the proposal [Page 387] that the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister should be furnished in strict confidence with the revised texts of the draft treaty. I shall arrange for a copy of our revised text to be communicated to Dr. Van Kleffens.
We have also been approached several times by the Norwegian Government who have informed the Chinese Government of their support of the declarations made to the Chinese by the United States Government and ourselves on the 9th October and are anxious to negotiate forthwith a treaty of their own. Provided the Department of State sees no objection I shall also furnish the Norwegian Government with a copy of the revised text.
Instructions were sent on the 30th November to Sir Horace Seymour3 to reply to the counter-proposals of the Chinese Government and I enclose herein a copy of the revised draft text of our own treaty, together with a draft supplementary note based on these instructions.
It will be seen that the amendments which Sir Horace Seymour has been authorized to offer follow closely those offered by the United States Government except in the following two matters:
(1) National treatment for the carrying on of commerce.
I must confirm the views which I have expressed in previous communications on this subject which are those of His Majesty’s Government.
(2) Overseas merchant shipping (see point 7 in the message from the Department of State dated 29th November). (Department’s 6022, November 29, noon.)
We had assumed that the message of the 25th November (see point One (6)) (Department’s 5931, November 25, 7 p.m.) superseded the observations on this subject in the message of the previous day (see 1: first paragraph).4 Proceeding on this assumption, we have omitted from our exchange of notes any reference to a list of open ports, especially since we had hoped that with the abolition of the treaty port system it was not the intention of the Chinese Government to continue to confine foreign overseas shipping to particular ports. You will have in mind the observations on this point made in the memorandum contained in my letter of the 23rd November, under One (6) (Embassy’s 6608, November 24, 2 p.m.).
It will be noted that paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 of the annex to be attached to the Sino-British exchange of notes deal respectively with the following subjects:
Restrictions on the right of travel, residence and the carrying on of commerce.
Owing to special difficulties in some of the British territories to which the treaty applies, e. g. India, it will probably be necessary for us in the exchange of notes, or in an agreed minute, to stipulate that [Page 388] nothing in the treaty shall prevent (a) application of restrictions on travel, residence and the carrying on of commerce by the nationals of one party in the territories of the other, if the same restrictions are also applied to the nationals of the latter: (b) the application in wartime of restrictions on travel and residence by the nationals of one party, imposed for the purpose of national security in the territories of the other, if the same restrictions are imposed upon all foreigners.
Personal status.
His Majesty’s Government will seek Chinese agreement to the inclusion in the exchange of notes of a mutual arrangement regarding the law to be applied by the courts in all matters of personal status; and also if possible a declaration by the Chinese Government specifying the courts and prisons in which British subjects may be tried and detained.
Real property.
The future right to acquire real property in China is regarded as of great importance to British interests, and, since reciprocity can be granted in the United Kingdom and in the British colonies, His Majesty’s Ambassador has been authorized to endeavor to negotiate a reciprocal arrangement covering this question, as otherwise British subjects will be placed at a disadvantage with the nationals of Belgium, Denmark, Portugal and Spain, whose Governments concluded treaties with China in 1928 containing a declaration on this point. It may, however, be necessary to exclude India and Burma from the scope of any such arrangement.
On the question of alienation of real property we are agreeing to the restricting phrase at the end of article V (1) on the clear understanding that the Chinese Government agree to paragraph 2 of the annex to the draft exchange of notes. We presume that the United States Government will continue to insist on a similar condition.” End Mr. Eden’s letter.