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It was accompanied by the following statement signed at the same time: "In signing the Treaty this day between The United States of America, The British Empire, France, and Japan it is declared to be the understanding and intent of the Signatory Powers:

"1. That the Treaty shall apply to the Mandated Islands in the Pacific Ocean; provided, however, that the making of the Treaty shall not be deemed to be an assent on the part of The United States of America to the mandates and shall not preclude agreements between The United States of America and the Mandatory Powers respectively in relation to the mandated islands.

"2. That the controversies to which the second paragraph of Article I refers shall not be taken to embrace questions which according to principles of international law lie exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of the respective Powers."

Accordingly, the signing of the Treaty on the part of the United States was subject to the making of a convention with Japan concerning the status of the Island of Yap and what are termed the mandated islands in the Pacific Ocean north of the Equator, the negotiations in regard to which have been concluded, and also to the reservations with respect to what are termed the mandated islands in the Pacific Ocean south of the Equator. The position of the United States in regard to mandates is not in any way affected by this Treaty.

Further, it is distinctly stated that the controversies to which the Treaty refers do not embrace questions which, according to principles of international law, lie exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of the respective Powers. Illustrations of questions of this sort are immigration and tariff matters, so far as they are unaffected by existing treaties.

It will be observed that the Treaty relates only to "insular possessions and insular dominions." It contains no provision with respect to continental territory either in the East or in the West.

Under Article I, the parties do not agree to give any support to claims, but only to respect rights that actually exist. When controversies arise of the character stated in the Article, the Powers merely agree to confer together concerning them. No Power binds itself to anything further; and any consents or agreements must be reached in accordance with its constitutional methods. The reference to "consideration and adjustment" does not imply that any agreement can be made at a conference relating to a controversy which would be binding upon the United States, unless that agreement is made by constitutional authority. The present Treaty promises not an agreement of any sort, but merely consultation. The same is true of the provision in Article II.

As Senator Lodge said, in communicating the terms of the Treaty to the Conference:

"To put it in a few words, the treaty provides that the four signatory powers will agree as between themselves to respect their insular possessions

and dominions in the region of the Pacific, and that if any controversy should arise as to such rights, all the high contracting parties shall be invited to a joint conference looking to the adjustment of such controversy. They agree to take similar action in the case of aggression by any other power upon these insular possessions or dominions. The agreement is to remain in force for 10 years, and after ratification under the constitutional methods of the high contracting parties the existing agreement between Great Britain and Japan, which was concluded at London on July 13, 1911, shall terminate. And that is all. Each signer is bound to respect the rights of the others and before taking action in any controversy to consult with them. There is no provision for the use of force to carry out any of the terms of the agreement, and no military or naval sanction lurks anywhere in the background or under cover of these plain and direct clauses."

This statement was made in open Conference, in the presence of all the Delegates who signed the Treaty, and must be regarded as an authoritative and accepted exposition of its import.

A question arose whether the main islands of Japan were within the scope of the Treaty. This had been considered while the Treaty was being negotiated, and it had been understood that they had been included. The words "insular possessions and insular dominions" were deemed comprehensively to embrace all islands of the respective powers in the region described. The American Delegation did not regard it as important whether the main islands of Japan were included or excluded, save that it was understood that their exclusion might give rise to difficulties with respect to the position of Australia and New Zealand. After the Treaty was signed, it became apparent that in view of the sentiment both in this country and in Japan, it would be preferable to exclude the main islands of Japan from the Treaty, and it was ascertained that Australia and New Zealand would not object to this

course.

It was thought desirable that specific mention should be made of the Japanese islands to which the Treaty should apply.

Accordingly, on February 6, 1922, the Four Powers signed a Treaty, supplementary to the Treaty of December 13, 1921, providing

"the term 'insular possessions and insular dominions' used in the aforesaid Treaty, shall, in its application to Japan, include only Karafuto (or the southern portion of the island of Sakhalin), Formosa and the Pescadores, and the islands under the mandate of Japan."

It was further provided that this agreement should have the same force and effect as the Treaty to which it was supplementary, and thus it is subject to the reservations made at the time the Treaty of December 13, 1921, was signed.

THE SHANTUNG CONTROVERSY

The most acute question, perhaps, in the Far East was that relating to Shantung, and it was also apparently the most difficult to settle satisfactorily. At the outbreak of the European War, Japan, as the ally of Great Britain,

dispatched to Germany an ultimatum requiring the German Government to deliver over to the Japanese authorities, without condition or compensation, and with a view to its eventual restoration to China, the Kiaochow territory for which Germany had obtained from China a lease of 99 years by virtue of a Convention signed in 1898. Upon this ultimatum being disregarded by Germany, Japan landed forces in the Province of Shantung, which besieged and captured the City of Tsingtao and, in November, 1914, took possession of the whole leased territory of Kiaochow and of the Germanowned Shantung Railway, running from that territory to the City of Tsinanfu, the capital of Shantung Province.

During the following year, as the result of the so-called "21 Demands" which Japan presented to China, there was signed on May 25, 1915, a Treaty by which the Chinese Government agreed "to give full assent to all matters upon which the Japanese Government may hereafter agree with the German Government relating to the disposition of all rights, interests, and concessions which Germany, by virtue of treaties or otherwise, possesses in relation to the Province of Shantung"; and it was further agreed that the whole of Kiaochow Bay should be opened as a commercial port, with a municipal concession to be established under the exclusive jurisdiction of Japan at a place to be designated by the Japanese Government, while an international concession might be established if the other foreign Powers should so desire. By a further Exchange of Notes dated September 24, 1918, it was arranged that the Shantung Railway should be operated jointly by Japan and China, and that it should thereafter be protected not by Japanese troops but by a special police force composed of Chinese under Japanese direction.

This latter arrangement, however, was never ratified by China, which continued to protest against Japan's claim to have succeeded to the position of Germany with respect to the leased territory of Kiaochow, the Shantung Railway, and other matters in the Province of Shantung.

This question was raised at the Peace Conference at Paris, China insisting upon the restitution to itself of all rights and privileges which Germany had possessed in Tsingtao. The decision of the Conference was, however, adverse to this claim; and by Articles 156, 157, and 158 of the Treaty of Versailles, it was provided that Germany should renounce in favor of Japan all her rights, title, and privileges relative to the Province of Shantung, particularly those concerning the leased territory of Kiaochow and the movable and immovable property of the German Government therein, the Shantung Railway, the mines operated by German nationals, and the submarine cables to Chefoo and to Shanghai which were the property of the German state. The cession thus made by the Treaty was nevertheless qualified by a declaration made in behalf of the Japanese Delegation, to the effect that "the policy of Japan consists in handing back the Shantung Peninsula in full sovereignty to China, retaining only the economic privileges granted to Germany and the right to establish a settlement under the usual conditions

at Tsingtao." By reason of this dissatisfaction with the disposition of the Shantung question made by the Versailles Treaty, the Chinese Government not only withheld its signature of that Treaty, but declined to entertain any proposals made by the Japanese Government for the adjustment of the question upon what it deemed to be the vague and arbitrary basis of restoring to China the "political sovereignty" (which China contended had not been affected by Japan's taking over the German position), while retaining for Japan the economic privileges—including the only deep-water harbor in the Province, the only railway thence to the interior, the only coal and iron mines of the Province which have proved to be of value-so as to leave Japan in effective domination of the economic life of the Province of Shantung.

The question could not be brought, technically, before the Washington Conference, as all the nations represented at the Conference table, save the United States, China, and The Netherlands, were bound by the Treaty of Versailles. Japan could, of course, at once oppose any action by any of these Powers at the Conference which could be regarded as a departure from the terms of that Treaty.

It was quite clear, however, that the Conference furnished a most favorable opportunity for negotiations between China and Japan in which by mutual agreement a solution of the difficulty might be found. In order that the parties might be brought together, the good offices of Mr. Balfour and Mr. Hughes, individually, were tendered to both parties, with their consent, and conversations looking to a settlement were begun. These conversations continued for many weeks and had the happy result of complete agreement, which was embodied in a Treaty signed on the part of China and Japan on February 4, 1922. The main outlines of this Treaty are as follows:

"Japan will, within six months from the date of the Treaty, restore to China the former German leased territory of Kiaochow, and all public properties therein, without charge except for such additions and improvements as may have been made by Japan during the period of her occupation;

"All Japanese troops are to be withdrawn as soon as possible-from the line of the Railway within six months at the latest, and from the leased territory not later than 30 days from the date of its transfer to China;

"The customhouse at Tsingtao is at once to be made an integral part of the Chinese Maritime Customs;

"The Shantung (Tsingtao-Tsinanfu) Railway and appurtenant properties are to be transferred to China, the transfer to be completed within 9 months, at the latest, from the date of coming into force of the Treaty; the value of the property to be determined by a commission upon the basis of approximately 53,000,000 gold marks, already assessed against Japan by the Reparations Commission as the value of the railway property taken by Japan from Germany in 1914; the value fixed being paid by China to Japan by Chinese Government treasury notes, secured on the properties and revunues of the Railway, and running for a period of 15 years, but redeemable either in whole or in part at any time after 5 years from the date of payment; pending the complete redemption of such treasury notes, the Chinese Gov

ernment to employ a Japanese subject as traffic manager, and a Japanese subject as one of two joint chief accountants, under the authority and control of the Chinese managing director of the railway;

"The rights in the construction of two extensions of the Shantung Railway, reserved in 1914 for German enterprise, and subsequently granted to a Japanese syndicate, are to be opened to the activities of an international financial group on terms to be arranged between China and that group;

"The coal and iron mines formerly owned by the German Shantung Railway Company are to be handed over to a company to be formed under a special charter of the Chinese Government, in which Japanese capital may participate equal with Chinese capital;

"Japan relinquishes its claim to the establishment of an exclusive Japanese settlement in the leased territory, and China opens the whole of that territory to foreign trade, undertaking to respect all valid vested rights therein;

"China is enabled to purchase, for incorporation in its Government salt monoply, the salt fields now operated in the leased territory by Japanese subjects, on the understanding that it will allow the export on reasonable terms of salt to meet the shortage in Japan;

"Japan relinquishes to China all claims with respect to the TsingtaoChefoo and Shanghai cables, except such portions as were utilized by Japan during the war for the laying of the cable from Tsingtao to Sasebo;

"Japan is to transfer to China for fair compensation the wireless stations at Tsingtao and Tsinanfu;

"Japan renounces all preferential rights in respect of foreign assistance in persons, capital, and material stipulated in the Kiachow Convention of 1898 between China and Germany."

WEI-HAI-WEI

On the announcement to the Conference of the conclusion of the agreement relating to Shantung, Mr. Balfour, on behalf of the British Government, proposed to restore Wei-Hai-Wei to China. Mr. Balfour said:

"The circumstances under which Weihaiwei thus came under the control of Britain have now not only provisionally changed, but they have altogether disappeared. The rest of the Province of Shantung is now handed back under suitable conditions to the complete sovereignty of China. Under like suitable conditions I have to announce that Great Britain proposes to hand back Weihaiwei to the country within whose frontier it lies.

"It has so far been used merely as a sanatorium or summer resort for ships of war coming up from the tropical or more southern portions of the China station. I doubt not that arrangements can be made under which it will remain available for that innocent and healthful purpose in time to But Chinese sovereignty will now be restored, as it has been restored in other parts of the Province, and we shall be largely guided in the arrangements that we propose at once to initiate by the example so happily set us by the Japanese and Chinese negotiators in the case of Shantung. They have received from this great assembly unmistakable proof of your earnest. approval, and most surely they deserve it."

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