The Washington herald., 1921-12-08

the interests of any foreign power
therein. however important they
may be in themselves, cannot COM
pare with them. The fact OF close
propinquity of Manchuria to Korea,
IL il justifies any claim to consid-
Grafton. can be equits bly, appealed
to only on the condition OF reci-
procity.
AS to the statement that assur-
ance was given by the American,
British and French governments at
the time of the formation of the
international consortium that the
vital interests of Japan in Manchuria
shall be safeguarded. the Chinese
delegation does not feel in a posi-
ton. since China was not consulted
at the time. to express an opinion
as to the question of its accuracy.
Should such assurance have been
given. they could not. however, con-
.ceal their feeling that il cannot be
reconciled with the principle which
was adopted by the conference on
November 81 of respect for the SOW
ereignty, the independence and the
territorial and administrative in
tegrity of China.
loon. leased to Great Britain. much
Is to be said for the Importance of
Hongkong to the trade of nations,
and for the way in which It's facili.
ties are made accessible to the
traders OF the world. and while
there may be a necessity to provide
for the protection of the Hongkong
harbor in the interests OF such
IL - L
not necessarily be. in the view of
the Chinese delegation, the sole So
luton Of this problem.
In making the foregoing state
ment. however. the Chinese delega-
ton have desired only to make their
position clear, and unless the COM
mittee wishes to continue discus
sion at this meeting, the Chinese
delegation desires to reserve for the
future further observations on the
question of the leased territories.
Would Respect China's Rights.
The chairman observed that in
the course Of the discussion refer
ence had been made by the Japanese
and Chinese representatives to the
attitude Of the United States in
relation to the consortium. He as
sumed that the representatives of
Japan and China had no intention
to refer to anything other than the
already published,
and as this had been made public.
he did not consider It necessary to
add anything thereto at this time.
The proposal Of the Chinese dele
cation that "China's rights as
neutral are to be fully respected
in future wars to which she Is not
a party" was unanimously adopted
after a statement made by DR..
Wang as follows:
The proposition advanced by the
Chinese delegation is an obvious
one; II Is in substance a corollary
OF the FIRST of the four resolutions
adopted by this committee on No
vember 81. This subject would not
be presented for discussion except
for the fact that in the past China's
rights in this respect have been
grievously disregarded. I need only
refer you to the Russo-Japanese
war which. so far as land opera
lions are concerned, was fought
wholly upon Chinese soil. Again,
at the time of the military expedi-
ton against Tsingtso in the late
war, belligerent troops landed at q
point $50 miles from the leased ter
ritory OF Kiaochow.
It Is clear that should similar in
cidents occur there would be fur
nished just cause of complaint by
the non-offending belligerent power
not only against the offending bel
ligerent power but also against
China herself. Furthermore, they
would tend to weaken throughout
the world the respect due. In time
OF war, to neutral powers. With
these preliminary remarks leave
this question to the pleasure of
this committee.
The committee adjourned to meet