CHINA AND BRITAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 861, 3 January 1930, Page 9

CHINA AND BRITAIN

NEGOTLATIONS ON QUESTION OF RIGHTS EMISSARY FOR NANKING British Official Wireless RUGBY, Wednesday. The Chinese Foreign Secretary, Dr. C. T. Wang, has issued a further statement which is regarded by the London Press as an indication that the mandate abolishing extraterritorial rights does not conflict with the suggestion made in the recent British Note. This was that the British Government having accepted the principle of a gradual abolition of extraterritorial privileges from today, the details of its application should be settled in negotiations between China and Britain. Dr. Wang's statement says:—“The Chinese Government is relying upon the sympathy already shown and the assurances given by the Powers concerned. It believes that there is no difference of opinion between the Powers and China in regard to the principle involved and it is prepared to consider and discuss any representations which may he made with reference to the plan now being prepared at Nanking.” The text has been issued of the Note handed to the Chinese Minister in London by Mr. Arthur Henderson, British Foreign Secretary, on December 20. This says that the British Government, animated by a desire to meet the wishes of the Chinese Government in a liberal and sympathetic spirit, sought to elicit from it concrete proposals which might serve as a basis for detailed negotiations. CIVIL WAR INTERVENES

The Government hoped the common purpose which both Governments had in view might best be served if discussions could be initiated before the end of the year between the British Minister in Peking and the Chinese Foreign Minister in Nanking. It was the intention of the British Government that Sir Miles Lampson should proceed to Nanking for that purpose, but unfortunately an outbreak of civil warfare over a wide area in China made it impossible to carry that intention into effect.

The intricate readjustments that would be necessary, in the legal and the administrative spheres, for the gradual and progressive solution of the problem of extraterritoriality such as was contemplated by both Governments could only be effected as a result of negotiations conducted in a friendly and unprejudiced atmosphere. The Chinese Government would realise that any attack upon the legal rights of British subjects or the interests which they had built up with benefit to China, as well as to themselves, in the course of nearly 100 years, on the faith of the solemn treaty stipulations, would confront the British Government with a serious responsibility. Such an attack would be gravely prejudicial to the prospects of negotiating a friendly solution of the intricate problem. GRADUAL ABOLITION The British Government, therefore, was willing to agree that January 1, 1930, should be treated as the date from which the process of the gradual abolition of extraterritoriality should be regarded as having commenced in principle. It would have no objection to any declaration conformable with that attitude which the Chinese Government might think it desirable to issue with a view to agreeing on a method and a programme for carrying the abolition of extraterritoriality into effect by gradual and progressive stage* to the mutual satisfaction of both Governments. The Chinese Minister, in his reply, stated that it was to be regretted if no detailed plan as the result of negotiations could be agreed upon before the end of the year. However, in view of the earnest desire and insistent demand of the Chinese people for the immediate abolition of extraterritoriality the Chinese Government regarded as most timely and conducive to the promotion of friendly feelings the statement of the British Government. KING’S GOOD WISHES NEW YEAR GREETINGS RUGBY, Wednesday. In reply to a congratulatory New Year telegram from the President of the Chinese Republic, Marshal Chiang Ivai-shek, King George has sent the following reply: “It is with much pleasure that I have received your kind message of New Year's greetings on behalf of the National Government and people of the Republic of China, and I sincerely reciprocate your good wishes.”