The Fight For The Republic in China eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 533 pages of information about The Fight For The Republic in China.

The Fight For The Republic in China eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 533 pages of information about The Fight For The Republic in China.
is, to our thinking, at any rate, a very grave derogation to China’s sovereign rights.  Furthermore, from actual experience, we know that the activities of these foreign police will not be confined to their countrymen; in a dispute between a Chinese and a Japanese both will be taken to the Japanese station by the Japanese policeman.  This existence of an imperium in imperio, so far from accomplishing its avowed object of “improving the relations of the countries and bringing about the development of economic interests to no small degree,” will, it is feared, be the cause of continual friction between the officials and people of the two countries.

As to the legal contention that the right of police control is a natural corollary to the right of exterritoriality, it must be said that ever since the grant of consular jurisdiction to foreigners by China in her first treaties, this is the first time that such a claim has been seriously put forward.  We can only say that if this interpretation of exterritoriality is correct the other nations enjoying exterritoriality in China have been very neglectful in the assertion of their just rights.

In the Chengchiatun case, the claim of establishing police boxes wherever the Japanese think necessary was made one of the demands.  The Chinese Government in its final reply which settled the case took the stand as above outlined.

It may be mentioned in passing that in Amoy the Japanese have also endeavoured to establish similar police rights.  The people of that city and province, and indeed of the whole country, as evidenced by the protests received from all over China, have been very much exercised over the matter.  It is sincerely hoped that with the undoubted improvement of relations between the two countries within the last several months, the matter will be smoothly and equitably settled.

LEGAL STATUS OF KOREANS IN CHIENTAO

The region which goes by the name of Chientao, a Japanese denomination, comprises several districts in the Yenchi Circuit of Kirin Province north of the Tumen Kiang (or the Tiumen River) which here forms the boundary between China and Korea.  For over thirty years Koreans have been allowed here to cultivate the waste lands and acquire ownership therein, a privilege which has not been permitted to any other foreigners in China and which has been granted to these Koreans on account of the peculiar local conditions.  According to reliable sources, the Korean population now amounts to over 200,000 which is more than the Chinese population itself.  In 1909 an Agreement, known as the Tumen Kiang Boundary Agreement, was arrived at between China and Japan, who was then the acknowledged suzerain of Korea, dealing, inter alia, with the status of these Koreans.  It was provided that while Koreans were to continue to enjoy protection of their landed property, they were to be subject to Chinese laws and to the jurisdiction of Chinese courts.  The subsequent annexation of Korea did not affect this agreement in point of international law, and as a matter of practice Japan has adhered to it until September, 1915.  Then the Japanese Consul suddenly interfered in the administration of justice by the local authorities over the Koreans and claimed that he should have jurisdiction.

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The Fight For The Republic in China from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.