CHINE. TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. Signed at Peking, 21st day of 7th month, 29th year of Meiji (1896); Ratified 29th day of 9th month, 29th year of Meiji (1896); Ratifications exchanged at Peking, 20th day of 10th month, 29th year of Meiji (1896); and Promulgated 28th day of 10th month, 29th year of Meiji (1896). His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of China, having resolved, in pursuance of the provisions of Articles VI. of the Treaty signed at Shimonoseki on the 17th day of the 4th month of the 28th year of Meiji, corresponding to the 23rd day of the 3rd month of the 21st year of Kuang Hsü, to conclude a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, have for that purpose named as Their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Baron Hayashi Tadasu, Shoshii, Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, Grand Officer of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary; and His Majesty the Emperor of China, Chang Yen Hoon, Minister of the Tsungli-yamen, holding the rank of the President of a Board and Senior Vice-President of the Board of Revenue; Who, after having communicated to each other their Full Powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles : ARTICLE I. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of China, and between their respective subjects who shall enjoy equally in the respective countries of the High Contracting Parties full and entire protection for their persons and property. (116) ARTICLE II. It is agreed by the High Contracting Parties that His Majesty the Emperor of Japan may, if He see fit, accredit a Diplomatic Agent to the Court of Peking and His Majesty the Emperor of China may, if He see fit, accredit a Diplomatic Agent to the Court of Tokio. The Diplomatic Agent thus accredited shall respectively enjoy all the prerogatives, privileges and immunities accorded by international law to such Agents and they shall also in all respects be entitled to the treatment extended to similar Agents of the most favoured nation. Their persons, families, suites, establishments, residences and correspondence shall be held inviolable. They shall be at liberty to select and appoint their own officers, couriers, interpreters, servants and attendants without any kind of molestation. (117) ART His Majesty the Emperor of Japan may appoint Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents to reside at such of the ports, cities and towns of China, which are now, or may hereafter be, opened to foreign residence and trade, as the interests of the Empire of Japan may require. Those officers shall be treated with due respect by the Chinese Authorities, and they shall enjoy all the attributes, authority, jurisdiction, privileges and immunities which are, or may hereafter be, extended to similar officers of the nation most favoured in these respects. His Majesty the Emperor of China may likewise appoint Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents to reside at any or all of those places in Japan, where Consular officers of other nations ars now, or may hereafter be, admitted, and, saving in the matter of jurisdiction in respect of Chinese subjects and property in Japan, which is reserved to the Japanese Judicial Courts, they shall enjoy the rights and privileges that are usually accorded to such officers. (117) ARTICLE IV. Japanese subjects may, with their families, employés and servants, frequent, reside and carry on trade, industries and manufactures, or pursue any other lawful avocations in all the ports, cities and towns of China, which are now, or may hereafter be, opened to foreign residence and trade. They are at liberty to proceed to or from any of the open ports with their merchandise and effects, and within the localities at those places which have already been, or may hereafter be, set apart for the use and occupation of foreigners, they are allowed to rent or purchase houses, rent or lease land, and to build churches, cemeteries and hospitals, enjoying in all respects the same privileges and immunities as are now, or may hereafter be, granted to the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation. (118) ARTICLE V. Japanese vessels may touch for the purpose of landing and shipping passengers and merchaadise in accordance with the existing Rules and Regulations concerning foreign trade there at all those places in China, which are now ports of call, namely, Ngan-ching, Ta-tung, Hu-kow, Wu-sueh, Lu-chi-kow and Woosung and such other places as may hereafter be made ports of call also. If any vessel should unlawfully enter ports other than open ports and ports of call in China or carry on clandestine trade along the coast or rivers, the vessel with her cargo shall be subject to confiscation by the Chinese Government. (119) ARTICLE VI. Japanese subjects may travel, for their pleasure or for purposes of trade, to all parts of the interior of China, under passports issued by Japanese Consuls and countersigned by the Local Authorities. These passports, if demanded, must be produced for examination in the localities passed through. If the passports be not irregular, the bearers will be allowed to proceed and no opposition shall be offered to their hiring of persons, animals, carts or vessels for their own conveyance or for the carriage of their personal effects or merchandise. If they be without passports or if they commit any offence against the law, they shall be handed over to the nearest Consul for punishment, but they shall only be subject to necessary restraint and in no case to ill-usage. Such passports shall remain in force for a period of thirteen Chinese months from the date of issue. Any Japanese subject travelling in the interior without a passport shall be liable to a fine not exceeding three hundred Taels. Japanese subjects may, however, without passports go on excursions from any of the ports open to trade, to a distance not exceeding one hundred Chinese li and for a period not exceeding five days. The provisions of this Article do not apply to crews of ships. (119) ARTICLE VII. Japanese subjects residing in the open ports of China may take into their service Chinese subjects and employ them in any lawful capacity without restraint or hindrance from the Chinese Government or Authorities. (120) ARTICLE VIII. Japanese subjects may hire whatever boats they please for the conveyance of cargo or passengers and the sum to be paid for such boats shall be settled between the parties themselves, without the interference of the Chinese Government or officers. No limit shall be put upon the number of boats, neither shall a monopoly in respect either of the boats or of the porters or coolies engaged in carrying goods be granted to any parties. If any smuggling takes place in them the offenders will of course be punished according to law. (121) ARTICLE IX. The Tariffs and Tariff Rules now in force between China and the Western Powers shall be applicable to all articles upon importation into China by Japanese subjects or from Japan, or upon exportation from China by Japanese subjects or to Japan. It is clearly understood that all articles, the importation or exportation of which is not expressly limited or prohibited by the Tariffs and Tariff Rules existing between China and the Western Powers, may be freely imported into and exported from China, subject only to the payment of the stipulated import or export duties. But in no case shall Japanese subjects be called upon to pay in China other or higher import or export duties than are, or may be, paid by the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation; nor shall any article imported into China from Japan or exported from China to Japan be charged upon such importation or exportation other or higher duties than are now, or may hereafter be, imposed in China on the like article when imported from or exported to the nation most favoured in those respects. (121) ARTICLE X. All articles duly imported into China by Japanese subjects or from Japan. shall, while being transported, subject to the existing Regulations, from one open port to another, be wholly exempt from all taxes, imposts, duties, lekin, charges and exactions of every nature and kind whatsoever, irrespective of the nationality of the owner or possessor of the articles, or the nationality of conveyance or vessel in which the transportation is made. (122) ARTICLE XI. It shall be at the option of any Japanese subject desiring to convey duly imported articles to an inland market to clear his goods of all transit duties by payment of a commutation transit tax or duty, equal to one-half of the import duty in respect of dutiable articles, and two and half per cent, upon the value in respect of duty free articles; and on payment thereof a certificate shall be issued, which shall exempt the goods from all further inland charges whatsoever. It is understood that this Article does not apply to imported opium. (123) ARTICLE XII. All Chinese goods and produce purchased by Japanese subjects in China elsewhere than at an open port thereof and intended for export abroad, shall in every part of China be freed from all taxes, imposts, duties, lekin, charges and exactions of every nature and kind whatsoever, saving only export duties when exported, upon the payment of a commutation transit tax or duty calculated at the rate mentioned in the last proceding Article substituting export duty for import duty, provided such goods and produce are actually exported to a foreign country within the period of twelve months from the date of the payment of the transit tax; all Chinese goods and produce purchased by Japanese subjects at the open ports of China and of which export to foreign countries is not prohibited shall be exempt from all internal taxes, imposts, duties, lekin, charges and exactions of every nature and kind whatsoever, saving only export duties upon exportation and all articles purchased by Japanese subjects in any part of China, may also, for the purposes of export |