Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-06
Extraterritoriality in China.

DR.. Chao-Chu WI, Nationalist China's
first fully accredited Minister to the
United States, has submitted his maiden
note to the State Department in trans
initial of his governments request for
abolition of American extraterritorial
| rights in China. Declaring extraterri-
! toriality "a legacy of the old regime, -
China asks for removal of these ire
strictionS on her jurisdictional SOW
ereignty at the earliest possible date. "
The concession is sought on the
ground that with the uniflcation of
China and the establishment upon a
firm foundation of the National gov
eminent a new era has been happily
inaugurated" between that country and
the United States. In particular token
thereof the Chinese note cites the con-
cluSion Of the recent Sino- American
tariff treaty-a transaction which sig
nalized our acceptance of the "new era"
and our belief that it is grounded on
rock. not sand.
No matter what the nature of Secre-
tary Stimson's formal reply to China's
request may be, the government and
people of the Nationalist republic know
they are assured of genuine American
sympathy and disinterested good will
But our Observation-Disclosures does not go
the length of readiness to surrender
safeguards heretofore found indispen-
sable to the security of American citi-
zens in China. both as to their persons
and their property.
The demand for abrogation of extra
territorial treaties is ALMOST as old as
the treaties themselves. 1t was one of the
stirring battle-cries of the Nationalist
movement as it swept onward to ire
sistible victory at Peking last Summer
The United States as long ago as the
Washington Conference of 1922 heartily
acquiesced in China's desire for "juris-
dictional' liberty. The conference ap-
pointed commission to investigate the
progress of Chinese Jurisprudence and
to determine if, when and how Chinas
aspiration for abolition of extraterri-
toriality might be realized. The COM
mission, on which a distinguished
American jurist sat, probed the situa-
ton on the spot laboriously and pa
tiently, but ended it's deliberations with
out recommendations. 1t is that Incl
dent. thus left temporarily closed. which
Nationalist China would formally and
finally reopen.
It will be for the United States and
other powers now to convince them
selves that China can be accommo-
dated without jeopardy to their inter-
ests. DR.. Wang, the Marking foreign
minister, stresses ''the assimilation Of
western legal conceptions by Chinese
juriSts" and the incorporation of west
ern legal principles in Chinese jurispru-
dence" as additional reasons for lib
Grating his country from the shackles
of foreign courts within its own domain
We are asked to "rest assured that the
legitimate rights and interests of Amer
lean citizens will not be unfavorably af-
fected in the least" If China is permit
ted henceforward to be master in her
own legal house.
The world, including ourselves, will
accept these pledges as strong argu-
ments in support of China's contentious,
but the powers are bound to explore
carefully, on their own account, whether
extraterritoriality can actually be sur
rendered with that complete equanimity
which DR.. Wang's note suggests. If the
present facts and future outlook do
justify the granting of China's request,
there will nowhere be more satisfaction
than in the United States, whose good
wishes for the tranquility, happiness
and prosperity of China are not alleged
by single selfish desire of our own.