UNSHACKLING OF CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17935, 1 December 1921, Page 7

UNSHACKLING OF CHINA.

COMMISSION TO INQUIRE. . TO SIT AFTER CONFERENCE. YEAR TO DRAW UP SCHEME. • By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. (Beceived ILBO p.m.) • A. and N.Z. WASHINGTON, Nov. 29. It i 8 understood that the Far Eastern ■ Committee to-day gave informal acquis esense in the principle of the withdrawal b of foreign troops from China. Prince Tokugawa, head of the Japa- ) nese delegation, asked about Japan's i attitude to extra-territorial rights in f China, and stated that Japan was most ) anxious to be friends with China. She j intended to abolish the system of main--3 taining troops in China as soon as pos- . sible. The following resolutions regarding , extra-territorial rights in China were , adopted at to-day's session' of the Far Eastern Committee:— , The Governments of the eight Powers represented, sitting in conference, shall establish a commission of one member each to inquire into the present practice of extra-territorial laws, judicial system and administration in China with a view <o reporting their findings and to acting thereon. The commission shall recommend such means as it may find suitable to improve existing conditions of Chinese justice, and to assist the efforts of China to effect such leginlation and judicial reforms as will warrant the several Powers relinquishing, progressively or otherwise, thoir respective rights. The commission shall be constituted within three months after adjournment of the conference, and shall be instructed to submit a report and recommendations ' within a year after its first meeting. Each of the Powers named shall be free to accept or reject all or any portion of the recommendations of the commission, but not to make the acceptance of such recommendations directly or indirectly dependent on China's granting any official concession, favour, benefit, or immunity, ( political or economic." Provision is also made for acceptance I of the findings of the commission by nonsignatory Powers. China expresses her . satisfaction at the above resolution, and declares her intention to appoint a representative to the commission with the . right to svt as a member, it being understood that China shall have the right to . accept or reject all or any of the recom- . mendations of the commission. China is , prepared to co-operate in every way with the commission and afford it every facility. Mr. Sze, the Chinese delegate, protested ( against the maintenance on Chinese territory, without Chinese consent and r against her protests, of foreign troops, railway guards, police boxes, and electrical wire and wireless communication in- ' stallations, and asked for a declaration ' from the Powers at the conference that * no Power shall maintain any of the fore- ' going unless it can be proved conclusively * that a right exists on an accepted basis c of international law, and that any such now existing upon the soil of China Bhall be immediately withdrawn. China also submitted data showing the disposition and numbers of foreign troops, especially Japanese, in China and Manchuria, the ponition of wireless stations,