U.S. SPRINGS SURPRISE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 419, 30 July 1928, Page 9

U.S. SPRINGS SURPRISE

TREATY MADE WITH CHINA

TARIFF AUTONOMY GRANTED

(United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) WASHINGTON, Sunday. It was announced yesterday that the United States Government had signed a treaty with the Chinese Nationalists restoring tariff autonomy to China. Officials minimise the degree of diplomatic recognition involved, but admit that it is a form of de facto recognition. The surprise move of the Secretary of State, Mr. F. B. Kellogg, in negotiating this treaty with the Nationalists has startled the diplomatic world, according to dispatches received in Washington. Persons in close touch with the Government concede that it is possible that, this unexpected gesture will react, perhaps unfavourably, upon America’s relations with the other Powers interested in the Far East. It is considered particularly significant that the United ’States Government should have chosen this time to advertise its friendship for the Nationalists, because it comes when the relations between Japan and the Nanking Government are at the breaking point about Manchuria, and when Japan, supported by Britain, is attempting to command the observance by the Nationalists of the so-called unequal treaties. The United States Government has now moved to replace those treaties, as far as American interests are concerned, with other agreements.

IMPORTANT EVENT

(United Service) PEIPING, Sunday. A stir has been caused in diplomatic circles at Peiping (formerly Peking) by the unexpected announcement that America has signed a treaty with the Nationalist Government, conceding China the right of complete autonomy. The importance of the event lies in the fact that this is the first time a foreign Government with large interests in China has demonstrated its readiness to deal with the Nationalists on a question concerning the country as a whole. It amounts virtually to a full recognition of the Nanking regime as the Government of China.