EXCELLENCY,

Peking, the 25th Day of the 5th Month of the

4th Year of Taisho.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of this day's date in which you made the following declaration in the name of the Chinese Government :

"Within the Province of Shantung or along its coast no territory or island will be leased or ceded to any foreign Power under any pretext."

tion.

In reply, I beg to state that I have taken note of this declara

His Excellency Lu Cheng-hsiang,

Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I avail, &c.,

EKI HIOKI.

EXCHANGE OF NOTES between China and Japan respecting the Opening of Ports in the Province of Shantung.-Peking, May 25, 1915.

(Translation.)

Peking, the 25th Day of the 5th Month of the 4th Year of the Republic of China.

M. LE MINISTre,

I HAVE the honour to state that the places which ought to be opened as Commercial Ports by China herself, as provided in Article III of the Treaty* respecting the Province of Shantung, signed this day, will be selected and the regulations therefor will be drawn up by the Chinese Government itself, a deci sion concerning which will be made after consulting the Minister of Japan.

His Excellency Eki Hioki,

I avail, &c.,

Japanese Minister.

LU CHENG-HSIANG.

* Page 791.

EXCELLENCY,

Peking, the 25th Day of the 5th Month of the 4th Year of Taisho.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of this day's date, in which you stated that "the places which ought to be opened as Commercial Ports by China herself, as provided by Article III of the Treaty respecting the Province of Shantung, signed this day, will be selected and the regulations therefor will be drawn up by the Chinese Government itself, a decision concerning which will be made after consulting the Minister of Japan.

In reply, I beg to state that I have taken note of the same.
I avail, &c.,

His Excellency Lu Cheng-hsiang,

Minister for Foreign Affairs.

EKI HIOKI.

EXCHANGE OF NOTES between China and Japan respecting the Restoration of the Leased Territory of Kiaochou Bay.-Peking, May 25, 1915.

(Translation.)

EXCELLENCY,

Peking, the 25th Day of the 5th Month of the 4th Year of Taisho.

IN the name of my Government, I have the honour to make the following declaration to the Chinese Government :—

When, after the termination of the present war, the leased territory of Kiaochou Bay is completely left to the free disposal of Japan, the Japanese Government will restore the said leased territory to China under the following conditions :—

1. The whole of Kiaochou Bay to be opened as a Commercial Port.

2. A concession, under the exclusive jurisdiction of Japan, to be established at a place designated by the Japanese Govern

ment.

3. If the foreign Powers desire it, an international conces sion may be established.

4. As regards the disposal to be made of the buildings and properties of Germany and the conditions and procedure relating thereto, the Japanese Government and the Chinese Government shall arrange the matter by mutual agreement before the restoration. I avail, &c.,

EKI HIOKI.

His Excellency Lu Cheng-hsiang,

Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Peking, the 25th Day of the 5th Month of the 4th Year of the Republic of China.

M. LE MINISTRE,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of this day's date, in which you made the following declaration in the name of your Government :—

"When, after the termination of the present war, the leased territory of Kiaochou Bay is completely left to the free disposal of Japan, the Japanese Government will restore the said leased territory to China under the following conditions:

"1. The whole of Kiaochou Bay to be opened as a Commercial Port.

"2. A concession, under the exclusive jurisdiction of Japan, to be established at a place designated by the Japanese Govern

ment.

3. If the foreign Powers desire it, an international concession may be established.

4. As regards the disposal to be made of the buildings and properties of Germany and the conditions and procedure relating thereto, the Japanese Government and the Chinese Government shall arrange the matter by mutual agreement before the restoration."

In reply, I beg to state that I have taken note of this declaration.

His Excellency Eki Hioki,

I avail, &c.,

Japanese Minister.

LU CHENG-HSIANG.

TREATY between China, and Japan respecting South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia.-Peking, May 25, 1915.

[Ratifications exchanged at Tokio, June 8, 1915.]

(Translation.)

His Excellency the President of the Republic of China and His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, having resolved to conclude a Treaty with a view to developing their economic relations in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, have for that purpose named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say :

His Excellency the President of the Republic of China, Lu Cheng-hsiang, Chung-ching, First Class Chia-ho Decoration, and Minister for Foreign Affairs; and

His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Eki Hioki, Jushii, Second Class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary ;

Who, after having communicated to each other their full powers, and found them to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles :

ART. I. The two High Contracting Parties agree that the term of lease of Port Arthur and Dairen,* and the terms of the South Manchuria Railway and the Antung-Mukden Railway, shall be extended to ninety-nine years.

II. Japanese subjects in South Manchuria may, by nego tiation, lease land necessary for erecting suitable buildings for trade and manufacture or for prosecuting agricultural enterprises.

III. Japanese subjects shall be free to reside and travel in South Manchuria and to engage in business and manufacture of any kind whatsoever.

IV. In the event of Japanese and Chinese desiring jointly to undertake agricultural enterprises and industries incidental thereto, the Chinese Government may give its permission.

V. The Japanese subjects referred to in the preceding three articles, besides being required to register with the local authorities passports which they must procure under the existing regulations, shall also submit to the police laws and ordinances and taxation of China.

Civil and criminal cases in which the defendants are Japanese shall be tried and adjudicated by the Japanese consul;

* Dalny.

those in which the defendants are Chinese shall be tried and adjudicated by Chinese authorities. In either case an officer may be deputed to the Court to attend the proceedings. But mixed civil cases between Chinese and Japanese relating to land shall be tried and adjudicated by delegates of both nations conjointly in accordance with Chinese law and local usage.

When, in future, the judicial system in the said region is completely reformed, all civil and criminal cases concerning Japanese subjects shall be tried and adjudicated entirely by Chinese law courts.

VI. The Chinese Government agrees, in the interest of trade and for the residence of foreigners, to open by China herself, as soon as possible, certain suitable places in Eastern Inner Mongolia as Commercial Ports.

VII. The Chinese Government agrees speedily to make a fundamental revision of the Kirin-Changchun Railway Loan Agreement, taking as a standard the provisions in railway loan agreements made heretofore between China and foreign financiers.

When in future more advantageous terms than those in existing railway loan agreements are granted to foreign financiers in connection with railway loans, the above agreement shall again be revised in accordance with Japan's wishes.

VIII. All existing Treaties between China and Japan relating to Manchuria shall, except where otherwise provided for by this Treaty, remain in force.

IX. The present Treaty shall come into force on the date of its signature. The present Treaty shall be ratified by his Excellency the President of the Republic of China and His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at Tokio as soon as possible.

In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries of the two High Contracting Parties have signed and sealed the present Treaty, two copies in the Chinese language and two in Japanese.

Done at Peking this 25th day of the 5th month of the 4th year of the Republic of China, corresponding to the same day of the same month of the 4th year of Taisho.