The Washington herald., 1922-01-20
CHINA TO BARE
MANY TREATIES
sta
NOW In SECRET
Sovereign Integrity Bet
ter Conserved With Ma
tions Equal, Aim.
Continued from Page One.

opportunity for serious argument.
The point was, he said, that the
powers at the conference should
thenceforth know. in the interest OF
thelr cordial relations. all that any
OF the powers had to say with re-
spect to their rights. That dis
Siosure could affect no actual right
adVersely; on the contrary 1t would
TEND to support every legitimate
Slalm. Questions that were in
doubt would not be in any more
doubt because they were frankly
stated. He would say that great
progress could be made at the con-
ference IL they would resolve to
present the commitments upon
which they relied. list them. and
give them to the secretary general.
matters of conflict, of course, pre-
sented phases of claims of right on
either side, which naturally would
nave to be adjusted in a manner
satisfactory to those who believed
mat they had rights. That pro-
sehted he case of a controversy and
The question as to the appropriate
means Of settling controversies.
Would List Commitments.
His suggestion would be that. m
stead Of discussing all such matters
at once, or at least having a discus
sion which would not be definitely
related to a particular topic at a
particular time. the committee
should first take up the matter of
listing the various commitments
upon which the nations relied in
respect of China As preliminary
to that he trusted that he might.
with their consent. invite the dis
closure which Mr.. Koo stated that
ne was ready to make.
Mr.. Koo declared that, in compli-
ance with the request of the chair
man, the Chinese delegation would
be glad to lay before the commit
tee the terms of the Russo Chinese
alliance, as soon as a copy was
made for submission. He wished to
add, however. that the said treaty
was signed in the year 1896 and
was to remain in force for only If
teen years. so that its term had al
ready expired
Sir Auckland oeddes said that
the British Empire were fully pre-
pared to publish all the commit
ments which they had with China:
fully prepared to publish everything
they relied On. In fact. the vast
majority of them were already pub
lished. He was not. however. sure
that he understood Mr.. Koo cor
rectly. Did he wish all the treaties
Of peace and commerce between
Britain and China to be reissued
and republished? those were known
to the whole world. It would be
quite possible to prepare such a list,
and il it were consTdercf desirable
there was no difficulty about doing
II. II, however. would take a little
time.
The British Empire delegation had
prepared a list of all the minor
commitments embodied in instru
ments Of less Importance than the
freat treaties which existed be-
tween them and China. Those they
were prepared to publish, or to give
tn the secretary general, or in any
other way to make them available
to the whole world. They believed
that they were all already known
to anyone who took the trouble to
look for them. The vast majority
of them. at all events. had been pub
lished in that most valuable work
by Mr.. MacMurray.
In saying that they were willing
to publish all these commitments
at once. it was not possible to guar
rhIct lndl the llSI IndI Iney naO
at hand was exhaustive. and he sug-
Pested informally that. after there
bad been publication of a list of
these documents, a certain time in
tervaI be allowed for others which
might have been overlooked to lie
added to the list. 1t was possible
that the mere fact of publication
was quite likely to bring to atten-
non something that had been for
the moment overlooked.
Fullest Publicity Agreeable.
With that proviso, and dealing
purely with the suggestion Of pub
LEGATION, and to repeat what he had
already said. the fullest publicity
fell in exactly with the desire of
the British Empire delegation in
this matter of their relations with
China.
The chairman said that the state
ment made by Sir Auckland Geddes
, was most gratifying. 1t was. of
course. not desired that in this mat
ter there should be any unneces-
Sary inconvenience. Possibly 1t
would meet with the approval of
the committee If it were arranged
that. in all cases where treaties or
cnCaEemFnts were set forth in Mr..
NacMurray's compilation, it would
he sufficient merely to refer to that
compilation. with a reference to the
place where the treaty or engage
ment might be found. That would
greatly simplify the preparation of
such a list.
Baron Shidehara. for the Japa-
nCse. raised the question that, while
il would be very easy for the Japa-
nese to file all of their treaties ana
commitments, they were not in pos
session of facts concerning conCes-
sions given to private firms. He
said that he assumed that the state
ments of the chairman and others
fetal governmental contracts.
Secretary Hughes explained that,
NJ course, IL was assumed that no
Government should be asked to list
Z contracts that it was not a party
to He pointed out, however, that
there were private contracts which
involved government concessions.
such as the Chinese and Eastern
Galway 1t would be very advisa-
. that matters o< this sort were
made of record. he said. His sug-
gestion. of course, would be sub
iect to discussion, after all.
Would Put All on Files.
Jonkheer Beelaerts Won Blokland
suggested that in addition to the
NacMurray compilations all other
avfsting compilations should be