793.003/248
The French Ambassador (Claudel) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary of State: In accordance with instructions which I have received from my Government, I have the honor to advise Your Excellency that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic delivered on January 2, to the Minister of China at Paris, a note of protest against the declaration of the Chinese Government relative to the abolition of extraterritoriality. This note was delivered on the same day to the Chinese Government by the Minister of France at Peking.
The document in question does not constitute a change in the policy of the French Government towards China, such as it has been declared several times and such as I have myself had occasion to state it to your Excellency.
My Government is ever desirous of studying sympathetically and on the basis of the mutual consent of the two parties the question of [Page 358] the gradual abolition of the extraterritorial provisions which might be recognized as useless or inadequate.
The Government of the Republic hopes that the declaration of the Chinese Government will probably not be followed by executory measures. Until now, it has not received any notification of the denunciation of the Franco-Chinese treaties. It considers, nevertheless, that the initiative of the Government of Nanking is dangerous in the sense that the object thereof is to substitute for the provisions of perfectly valid treaties the fait accompli of domestic legislation. It has felt, therefore, that the Chinese declaration could not be accepted without protest, even in case such declaration should not carry any immediate application.
I believe that I should acquaint Your Excellency with the point of view of my Government in a question which equally engages the Government of the United States. Furthermore, the conversations which I have had either with Your Excellency or with the chief of the appropriate office of the Department of State permit me to think that the point of view of the French Government is, in its main lines, in agreement with the point of view of the Government of the United States.
Be pleased [etc.]