New-York tribune., 1921-11-21
China Declared
Still Unable to
Protect Aliens
Lax Judicial System and
Corruption Among Of
fcials Field 10 Justify
ExfraterritoriaE r g h t S
Harbin Cited as Example
Japanese Writer Contends
Peking First Must Set
Its Own House in Order
By Midori Komatsu

Special correspondent Of the "Chngot
Shogyo," Of Toioio
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20s-Every one
wil, believe, deeply sypathze with
China in her legitimate desire to have
extraterritorial rights now enjoyed in
China by foreign nations given up. AS
Japanese, I most sincerely wish for
the sake of the Chinese that the time
will soon come when they win be freed
from this humiliation, because Japan
suffered under the same form of ma
tional disgrace for many years and it
was with great difficulty and after q
long struggle that she managed to get
rid of it.
For more than thirty years after
Japan opened her doors to foreign in
tercourse all the treaty powers exer-
cised extraterritoriai rights there, and
repeated requests made by Japan to an
null them were accorded anything hut
cordial reception. So eager were tn e
Japanese to have them withdrawn that
about thirty-two years ago Marquis
(then Mr.) Okuma, who was Minister
of Foreign Affairs, proposed in order
to please foreign governments to in
clude foreign judges among native
judges of the Japanese courts of justice.
This was resented by 8 great many
conservative elements of the Japanese
as being a blot on national honor and
prestige.
Point Won by Reforms
A few years later, in 1895 to be exact,
Japan emerged victorious from a war
with China, and on this account her
prestige greatly rose in the eyes of the
rest of the world. This, coupled with
the reform and completion Of her judi
cial system, won for Japan the object
she had long cherished and struggled
for--the abolition Of extraterritorial
jurisdiction. Knowing thus, as 1 do,
the humiliation and modification Japan
experienced for many years from being
denied rights over foreign peoples liv-
| ing within her confines, l cannot help
| sympathizing with China in her aspira-
| tion to possess them, and l earnestly
| hope that Japan will be the first to give
them up in favor of China, if China
proves herself capable of sufficiently
protecting the life and property of for
eigners in her territories.
| 1t is, however, open to question
whether China now possesses sucf
capabilities. 1t is notorious fac
that the Chinese police are utterly un
reliable as guardians of peace. AS
Chinese themselves readily admit, cases
occur too frequently in which police
| men are in league with evildoers and
betray the interests of the ople
whom it is their duty to protec,. II
is also another notorious fact that the
Chinese courts of justice are places
| in which corruption is rampant and
bribery is almost openly given and re-
ceived
Situation IN Harbin Cited
AT Harbia, a town in north Man
churia, formerly under the administra
| tion of the Russian government, the
! Chinese authorities now exercise judi
cfal powers over Russian inhabitants
for after the collapse of the Cars
government the extraterritorial rights
formerly enjoyed by Russians went
into Chinese hands. Even if there were
no Bolshevik tyranny, under which the
Russian inhabitants at Harbin arc
groaning, nobody would desire to be
in their shoes, so arbitrary is the
treatment given them by the Chinese
authorities.
The manager of Russian bank in
that town rather oastfully told me
some time ago that for $500 the Chi
nese police could be induced to arrest
and remove anybody he did not like
1t may be safely inferred that if extra