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The Abrogation of British Extraterritoriality in China 1942–43: A Study of Anglo-American-Chinese Relations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Extract
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 has been commonly regarded as the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese war. The early days of the war were a history of rapid Japanese advances and, inversely, of the equally fast retreat of the Chinese. The Chinese Nationalist Government evacuated Nanking and moved westward to the Wuhan area in late November 1937. Central China soon became untenable in face of heavy Japanese reinforcements; the Chinese government again evacuated in October 1938, this time much further west to Chungking in Szechwan. There was no declaration of war and China clearly had the sympathy of Britain and the United States. The two countries continued to recognize the government at Chungking, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, as the government of China, despite the fact that it retained control only over the south-west corner of the country. Pearl Harbor strengthened the tie of relations; the Chungking government won Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands as allies in its colossal struggle against Japan.
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References
1 A lucid account of the emergence and consolidation of the treaty system in China is given in Ch'ien T'ai , Chung-kuo pu p'ing-teng t'iao-yüeh chi yuan-ch'i chi ch'i fet-ch'u chih ching-kuo
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2 The quotation is from Fishel, W.R.The End of Extraterritoriality in China (University of California Press, 1952), p. 216.Google Scholar For a detailed account of events between the commission on extraterritoriality in China and the outbreak of the Manchurian crisis, see ibid., pp. 109–87. Good summaries, however, are found in Teichman, E.Affairs of China (London, 1938), pp. 92–7;Google Scholar and Levi, W.Modern China's Foreign Policy (University of Minnesota Press, 1953), pp. 189–91.Google ScholarAn interesting account of the experiences of members of the commission on extraterritoriality who visited China in 1926, which largely shaped their opinions on the question as expounded in their report,Google Scholar is given in Gilbert, R., The Unequal Treaties (London, 1929), pp. 225–30.Google Scholar
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6 The bulk of the works on the question of extraterritoriality, or consular jurisdiction, was published before 1942–1943. Some of these were written as a result of the attention given to the subject during 1928–31 when the Chinese Nationalist Government was clamouring for the abrogation of extraterritoriality. Examples for the pre-1942 works are:Google ScholarChou Keng-sheng, Ling-shih ts'-paian ch'üan
(Consular jurisdiction) (Shanghai, 1925);Google ScholarHuang Chih-yung,
Ling-shih ts'ai-pan ch'üan tao-lun ta-kang
(The problem of extraterritoriality) (Shanghai, 1929);Google Scholar and Woodhead, H.G.W.Extraterritoriality in China—The Case Against Abolition (Tientsin, 1929).Google Scholar There are also books written after 1942–1943. Of these the most authoritative and detailed study is Fishel, The End of Extraterritoriality in China, published in 1952. Despite the title, however, only 5 out of a total of 221 pages of text are devoted to the events of 1942–43. Moreover, the limited coverage suffered further from the fact that the book was published four years before the Department of State of the United States released the American government records relating to China for 1942 and two decades before the British materials were opened to the public. Vincent's, J.C. book, The Extraterritorial System in China—Final Phase, published as recently as 1970 by the East Asian Research Centre of Harvard University, deals essentially with the working of the system during 1924–1937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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8 Details of the offer and the rationale of the British government for rejecting it are set out in the minute of A.L. Scott, an official in the Far Eastern Department in the Foreign Office, on a parliamentary question asked on the subject by R.V. Grimston, M.P., FO 371/31626.
9 This charge against Britain was widely known in the United States. Ashley Clarke, head of the Far Eastern Department, to Sir J. Brenan, a veteran official in the department, written while Clarke was on a short visit to Washington for consultation with the American government about various questions concerning China, 12 May 1942, and Scott's minute on it, FO 371/31626.
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15 Announcement of the American loan was made on 1 February, but the treaty was not signed until 21 March 1942.
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19 British official documents relating to the loan negotiations on 1942 are found in FO 371/31618–31620.
20 For example, Seymour to Eden, tel. 371, 26 March 1942, FO 371/31626.
21 Sir John Brenan's minute on Anglo-Chinese relations since the outbreak of the Pacific war, 3 November 1942, FO 371/31627.
22 Lord Halifax, as chancellor of the University of Oxford, to Clark Kerr, tel. 27, 5 June 1942, FO 371/31654; Clarke to R.T. Peel (India Office), 12 February 1942, IOR (India Office Records) External Collection 11/25; and Eden to Seymour, tel. 1512, important, secret, and personal, 23 November 1942, FO 371/31627.
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36 Dominions Office to Foreign Office, 2 March, enclosing Canada to Dominions Office, tel. 403, 1 March 1942, FO 371/31657.
37 Draft telegram to Canada, FO 371/31657.
38 Clarke's minute on draft telegram to Canada, ibid.
39 D. Scott's minute, 12 March, and Cadogan's minute, 14 March 1942, on draft telegram to Canada, ibid. As Chinese secretary and counsellor of the embassy, Teichman had been deeply involved in the Sino-British negotiations over the question of extraterritoriality in 1930–31. He resigned from the position in the autumn of 1936 and was reappointed adviser to the embassy in February 1942.
40 Eden's, minute, 15 March, on his note to the Far Eastern Department of 2 March 1942, FO 371/31633.Google Scholar
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44 Brenan's minute, 8 April 1942, on Seymour to Eden, ibid.
45 Peterson's minute, 8 April 1942, on Seymour to Eden, ibid.
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48 Eden's minute, 10 April 1942, on Seymour to Eden, ibid.
49 Brenan's minute, 13 April and Clarke's minute, 14 April 1942, on Seymour to Eden, ibid.
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53 Eden to Halifax, tel. 2559, confidential, 19 April 1942, FO 371/31657.
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57 Campbell to Clarke, 22 July 1942, FO 371/31658.
58 The address was published by the Office of War Information under the title The War and Human Freedom (Washington, 1942).Google Scholar
59 See paraphrase of telegram in FO 371/31658.
60 FRUS, pp. 282, 287–8.Google Scholar
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62 See British reply in FO 371/31658.
63 Hull, CordellThe Memoirs of Cordell Hull (London, 1948), II, 1257–8;Google Scholar and Pratt, J.W.Cordell Hull, 1933–44 (New York, 1964), II, 653.Google Scholar
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67 Winant to Eden, 5 October 1942, enclosing paraphrase of the telegram from the Department of State of 3 October, FO 371/31658.
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71 Compare messages in The Times (14 October 1942).
72 The Daily Telegraph (14 October 1942).
73 Ibid.
74 The British ambassador in Washington wrote to the British prime minister: ‘From here one gets the impression that, although Chiang Kai-shek sent you a very wise message about extraterritoriality, there was a certain atmosphere of feeling that, although we did quite the right thing, we did it because of the Americans and not on our own’. Halifax to Churchill, private, 22 October 1942, Prem (Prime Minister Office) 4/27/9.
75 For example, Brenan's minute on Board of Trade to Foreign Office, 7 October 1942, FO 371/31659.
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79 The British note and list of amendments are available in FRUS, pp. 313–17.Google Scholar
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83 FRUS, pp. 337, 340.Google ScholarOn the sourness of Britain, Cadogan wrote in his diary on 22 October: ‘Americans really have bounced us over this, and behaved v. badly’,Dilks, The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan 1938–1945, p. 485.Google Scholar
84 Eden to Seymour, tel. 1353, 17 October 1942, FO 371/31659.
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86 Clarke to Seymour, confidential, 9 November 1942, FO 371/31661.
87 Government of Canada to Dominions Office, tel. 228, 21 October 1942, transmitted to the Foreign Office, FO 371/31660; government of Australia to Dominions Office, tel. 467, immediate, 24 October 1942, communicated to the Foreign Office; government of New Zealand to Dominions Office, tel. 378, secret, 29 October 1942, forwarded to the Foreign Office; and D.B. Sole (of the South African High Comminssion) to Dominions Office, 30 October 1942, sent to the Foreign Office, FO 371/31661.
88 Governor of India to the secretary of state for India, tel. 8364, 21 October, in India Office to Foreign Office, 23 October 1942, FO 371/31661.
89 China Association to Foreign Office, 30 October 1942, FO 371/31661.
90 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1466, 26 October 1942, FO 371/31660.
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93 Enclosed in Winant to Eden, 12 November 1942, FO 371/31662.
94 Pratt, Cordell Hull, 1933–44, II, 654;Google Scholar also message from the Department of State 11 November, enclosed in Winant to Eden, 12 November 1942, FO 371/31662.
95 Brenan's minute, 13 November, on Chinese modifications enclosed in Winant to Eden, ibid.
96 Ibid.
97 Seymour to Eden, tels 1550, 1552, secret, 13 November; and tel. 1551, 14 November 1942, FO 371/31662. It has to be mentioned here that in the Chinese counter draft to Britain the employment of an Englishman as inspector-general of the Chinese Customs was included in the list of rights to be abrogated in an exchange of notes. In a note of 13 February 1898 the Chinese government undertook to employ an Englishman as inspector-general of Customs for as long as British trade with China exceeded that of all other countries. For some years before the Pacific war British trade had roughly taken fourth place. The British government, therefore, could see ‘no strong contractual ground’ for demanding that a British subject, or any other foreigner, should continue to fill the post of inspector-general. See Brenan's minute, 18 November 1942, on Seymour to Eden, tel. 1551, ibid.
98 Message from the Department of State, 27 October, enclosed in Winant to Eden, 28 October 1942, FO 371/31661.
99 Message from the Department of State, 31 October, enclosed in Winant to Eden, 1 November 1942, FO 371/31661.
100 Enclosure in Eden to Winant, 12 November 1942, FO 371/31661.
101 For example, Seymour to Eden, tel. 1515, 4 November, and Brenan's minute, 7 November 1942, on it, FO 371/31661.
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103 Seymour to Eden, 1515, 4 November 1942, FO 371/31661.
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105 Message from the Department of State, 17 November, enclosed in Winant to Eden, 18 November 1942, FO 371/31662.
106 Memorandum in Eden to Winant, 23 November 1942, FO 371/31662.
107 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1564, 17 November 1942, FO 371/31662.
108 Clarke's minute, 20 November 1942, on Seymour to Eden, tel. 1564, ibid. The Colonial Office memorandum referred to here is enclosed in Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 18 August 1942, FO 371/31777.
109 Brenan's minute, 20 November 1942, on Seymour to Eden, tel. 1564, ibid.
110 Cadogan's minute, 21 November 1942, on Seymour to Eden, tel. 1564, ibid.
111 Eden's minute, 22 November 1942, on Seymour to Eden, tel. 1564, ibid.
112 Clarke's minute, 23 November 1942, on Seymour to Eden, tel. 1564, ibid; and Eden to Seymour, tel. 1548, 4 December 1942, FO 371/31663.
113 Message from the Department of State, 25 November, enclosed in Winant to Eden, 27 November 1942, FO 371/31663.
114 Clarke's minute on enclosure in Winant to Eden, 27 November 1942, ibid; and Eden to Seymour, tels 1552, 1553, important, 30 November 1942, FO 371/31663.
115 War cabinet conclusions 162(42), 30 November 1942, Cab 65/28.
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118 Eden to Winant, 7 December 1942, FO 371/31664.
119 Sung and Kung, brothers-in-law to each other and both brothers-in-law of Chiang Kai-shek, were vying with each other for power and influence.
120 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1678, immediate, 15 December 1942, FO 371/31664.
121 Message from the Department of State, 9 December, enclosed in Winant to Eden, 11 December 1942, FO 371/31664.
122 Winant to Eden, 16 December 1942, FO 371/31664.
123 Eden to Seymour, tel. 1622, immediate, 23, December; and tel. 1625, most immediate, 24, December 1942, FO 371/31665.
124 Eden to Seymour, tel. 1629, 24 December 1942, FO 371/31665.
125 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1721, immediate and confidential, 25 December 1942, FO 371/31665.
126 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1720, immediate, 25 December, 1942, FO 371/31665.
127 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1732, immediate, 27 December 1942, FO 371/31665.
128 Clarke's minute, 28 December, after having consulted Peterson and Cadogan, on Seymour to Eden, tel. 1732, ibid.
129 Note prepared by Clarke for Eden on the question of the New Territories for discussion at the cabinet meeting on 28 December 1942, FO 371/31665.
130 War cabinet conclusions 173 (42), 28 December 1942, Cab 65/28. Also Eden to Seymour, tel. 1641, most immediate,28 December; Eden to Winant, 29 December; and Eden to Halifax, tel. 8264, immediate, 29 December 1942, FO 371/31665.
131 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1736, immediate, 28 December; tels 1745, 1746, immediate, 30 December 1942, FO 371/31665.
131 Seymour to Eden, tel. 1753, 31 December; Eden to Seymour, tel. 1663, 31 December 1942, FO 371/31665.
133 Halifax to Eden, tel. 6310, immediate, 31 December 1942, FO 371/35679.
134 Clarke to Hornbeck, 13 February 1943, FO 371/35679.
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