No. 19

RUSSIA AND CHINA

Experimental regulations for the establishment of customs houses in Northern Manchuria.'-July 8, 1907

I.--The Convention for the Land Trade Between Russia and China" provides that no duties shall be levied on the frontier of the two countries within the limit of a hundred li (33 miles); and the Chinese Eastern Railway Agreement provides that China must establish Customs Stations where the railway line crosses the frontier.3

Now, therefore, China agrees not to collect duty for the present upon goods shipped by railway to the stations within the hundred-li limit on the frontier.

II.

Certain areas shall be fixed within which goods shipped by rail shall be required to pay but two-thirds of regular import duty.

At Harbin, the main station on the line, such 23 duty area shall extend to all points within a radius of ten Chinese li (3 miles) from the station. At the following more important places such area shall extend to a distance.

1 Translation, as printed in For. Rel., 1907, p. 138, from the official Chinese text. Printed also in MACMURRAY, vol. I, p. 648.

In connection with these regulations, see also the memorandum of agreement concerning the provisional Sungari River trade regulations, etc., August 8, 1910 (MACMURRAY, ibid., p. 807).

See Note 1 to this document, post, p. 115.

2 See Note 2 to this document, post, p. 115.

3 Agreement signed September 8, 1896 (No. 3, ante).

With the text as printed in For. Rel., 1907, p. 138, is given the following "Exposition of Article 2":

"Some controversy with regard to the interpretation of Article II. of the above agreement having occurred, the Chinese Board of Foreign Affairs at a later date officially communicated the following explanation of its understanding of that article to the Russian Minister in Peking, and received his acceptance of the same [on October 7, 1907].

"Article II. of the Experimental Regulations agreed upon by China and Russia for the opening of Customs Houses in Northern Manchuria contains the following clause:

""If, however, such goods are shipped out of the places above mentioned and the areas described, all other places being in inland territory, the full amount of the regular duty thereon must be made up, and the goods considered subject to inland trade regulations.'

"The meaning of this article is that all goods shipped out of the places mentioned and the areas described, will, (since all other places are considered to be within inland territory) be required to make up the full amount of the regular import duty by paying the 3 not previously collected. This additional duty will take the place of a transit duty, and upon payment thereof a pass will be issued permitting the goods to be shipped to any point within the Three Eastern Provinces (Manchuria) under the inland trade regulations. Without such pass the goods will be subject to likin and other duties at all Customs barriers passed. Furthermore, if it is proposed to ship

of five li in each direction from the station; viz: Man-chu-li, Cha-lai-no-erh, Hai-la-erh, Cha-lan-t'un, Fu-lu-erh-chi, Tsitsi-ha-erh, A-shih-ho, I-mien-po, Hai-lin, Yieh-ho, Mu-lin, Chiao-chie-chan, Shuang-cheng-p'u, Lao-shao-kou, Yao-men, and K'uan-ch'eng-tzu. The two-thirds duty regulation shall be put into effect at all the above places, and within the area around each as stipulated, with the exception, however, of Man-chu-li and Chiao-chie-chan (on the Sui-fen River) both of which places are situated within the hundred-li duty free limit. In addition to the above, there shall be two-thirds duty areas extending to a distance of three li in each direction from all the smaller stations on the Eastern Railway.

If, however, such goods are shipped out of the places above mentioned and the areas described, all other places being in inland territory, the full amount of the regular duty thereon must be made up, and the goods considered subject to inland trade regulations.

III. This reduction of one-third of the regular import duty on goods shipped by railway, is made by special agreement between China and Russia. China agrees, however, that not only Russian but all foreign merchandise shipped to China over the Eastern Railway, is equally affected.

Russia, on her part, agrees that all duty collected on goods which are not exempt from duty by the terms of the Russo-Chinese Land Trade Convention, shall be levied according to the new Customs tariff, one-third of the regular amount being deducted.

IV. These Articles of Agreement shall serve in a general way for experimental regulations for North Manchurian Customs-houses. If it shall become necessary to make any additions or alterations therein, or if any corrections shall be found necessary in order that the regulations shall be in harmony with Chinese Customs procedure, such changes may be considered and decided upon by both parties to this agreement after one year.

As to detailed regulations for Customs Houses, the mapping of the different areas, and the locating of small stations, these matters shall be discussed and decided as soon as possible by representatives of the two countries.1

these goods upon which the full import duty has been paid, from the Three Eastern Provinces into China proper, then a further half-duty will be collected thereon in accordance with the regular Customs tariff, this being the transit duty for China proper. Upon payment of this duty a pass will be issued exempting the goods from further duty, but without such pass likin and other duties will be collected at all Customs barriers passed.

"And in addition it is clearly understood that this plan as explained is experimental, even as the Regulations themselves, and if any additions or alterations are found necessary, a consideration of the matter shall be held by both parties to this agreement one year hence."

1 Provisional regulations for the working of the Chinese custom houses at the Stations Manchuria and Pogranichnaya (Suifenho) were subsequently agreed upon and published by a notification of the Commissioner of Customs at Harbin on May 30, 1908. See MACMURRAY, vol. I, p. 651.

Note 1

In Soglashenia, p. 85, are printed a Russian translation of the note from Prince Ch'ing to the Russian Minister at Peking, under date of June 23/July 6, 1907, proposing these regulations, and the reply of the Russian Minister, under date of June 25/July 8, 1907, accepting them; and there is also printed a further exchange of notes, of which the purport is indicated by the following translation of the note addressed by Prince Ch'ing to the Russian Minister under date of July 2/15, 1907:

"On July 25/July 8 last, I had the honor to receive your communication in which you said: 'On this day I had the honor to inform you, Honorable Prince and Dignitaries, that the Imperial Russian Government had expressed its consent to the establishment of Chinese customs houses at the terminal points of the Chinese Eastern Railway, on the basis of rules adopted for the period of one year. I now deem it my duty to state to you that the Imperial Russian Government is seriously solicitous that any special privileges which may in future be granted to goods conveyed into Manchuria through the port of Dalny (Dairen) should be extended to goods brought into Manchuria over the land frontier. Therefore all privileges granted to goods brought through the port of Dalny, and not provided for in the treaties on maritime trade or the agreement for the construction of the South Manchurian Branch, shall be granted also to the goods introduced into Manchuria over the railroad via frontier points. I deem it my duty to communicate the foregoing to you, Honorable Prince and Dignitaries, in compliance with instructions from my Government.'

"In connection with the foregoing communication the ministry under my charge deems it its duty to inform your Excellency that it has taken careful note of the contents thereof and has taken the matter under advisement."

Note 2

The reference is to the regulations for trade by land, annexed to the St. Petersburg treaty of February 12/24, 1881, between Russia and China (for which see CUSTOMS, Vol. 1, p. 188, or HERTSLET, p. 483), Article 1 of which provided for a dutyfree zone of fifty Russian versts, one hundred Chinese li, or approximately thirtythree miles) on either side of the frontier. These zones were subsequently abolished. See, in this connection, the following translation (from the Russian text as printed in Izviestia, 1912, vol. vi, p. 74) of a note addressed by the Russian Minister at Peking to the Wai Chiao Pu under date of August 24/September 6, 1912:

Abolition of 50-verst duty-free frontier Zone.-September 6, 1912

"On October 25/November 7, last year the Imperial Russian Government handed to the Chinese delegate its counter-proposals for the revision of the St. Petersburg treaty of 1881, which up to the present still remain without answer. The repeated reminders of the Imperial Government as to the necessity, in the interests of the trade of both countries, of coming to a conclusion of the negotiations already commenced for the revision of the said treaty, have not led either to the receipt of the consent of the Chinese Government to the Russian counter-proposals or to any other new proposals regarding the question. The attempt of the Imperial Government to come to an agreement with the Chinese Government regarding the date up to which the St. Petersburg treaty should be left in force has likewise remained without result.

"Such a situation reacts in the most injurious manner on the Russo-Chinese overland trade which, having a biennial or even triennial turnover, has need of settled procedure more than any other trade. The continued uncertainty as to how long the existing system of trade relations on the frontier of Russia and China will last, evokes just complaints from all sides.

"In view of the above, having come to the conclusion that the Chinese Government is either unable or unwilling to negotiate a revision of the St. Petersburg treaty, and considering that the Chinese Government has not availed itself of the right to a revision of trade regulations conveyed under Article 15 of the said treaty, the Imperial Russian Government, desirous of establishing a sound system for Russo-Chinese over

land trade, hereby declares that it is compelled to consider the St. Petersburg treaty of 1881 as remaining in force for a further period of ten years, i.e. to 7/20 August, 1921, in conformity with the stipulations contained in Article 15 of the treaty.

"Of the proposals communicated by the Chinese delegate in August last year, the Imperial Government has taken note of the desire of the Chinese Government to abrogate the special privilege of duty-free trade in the fifty-verst zone on each side of the land frontier between Russia and China. The Imperial Government recognizes that under the present conditions when along the land frontier a series of populated districts has grown up, the existence of a fifty-verst free zone, established at a time when the frontier was uninhabited, has become in many places abnormal. This is confirmed by the series of difficulties which have arisen latterly as to the true meaning of the privileges connected with the existence of this zone.

"Desiring to meet the above mentioned wish of the Chinese Government, expressed through its delegate for the revision of the St. Petersburg treaty, and recognizing the inconvenience of leaving the question of the fifty-verst privileged zone without decision for ten years, the Imperial Russian Government hereby informs the Chinese Government that the privileged zone on the Russian side of the land frontier between Russia and China will be abolished from 1/14 January, 1913.

"It goes without saying that the Imperial Government will not object to the simultaneous abolishment of the privileged fifty-verst zone on the Chinese side of the frontier."

No. 20

JAPAN AND RUSSIA

Political Convention.—July 30, 1907

The Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Japan and the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, desiring to consolidate the relations of peace and good neighbourhood which have happily been re-established between Japan and Russia, and wishing to remove for the future every cause of misunderstanding in the relations of the two Empires, have agreed upon the following provisions:

ARTICLE I. Each of the High Contracting Parties engages to respect the actual territorial integrity of the other, and all the rights accruing to one and the other Party from the treaties, conventions and contracts in force between them and China, copies of which have been exchanged between the Contracting Parties (in so far as these rights are not incompatible with the principle of equal opportunity), from the treaty signed at Portsmouth on the 5th of September (23rd of August), 1905,2 as well as from the special conventions concluded between Japan and Russia.

1 MACMURRAY, vol. 1, p. 657, translation from the French text as printed in Traités et Conventions, p. 60. French text printed also in the Russian Yellow-Book, Documents relatifs à la Conclusion entre la Russie et le Japon de la Convention politique du 17/30 juillet, 1907 (St. Petersburg, 1907); HErtslet, p. 619; Am. Journal Int. Law, Supplement, 1907, p. 396 (French text and translation).

See also the Russo-Japanese conventions of July 4, 1910 (No. 30, post), and of July 3. 1916 (No. 38, post).

2 No. 12, ante.

ART. II. The two High Contracting Parties recognise the independence and the territorial integrity of the Empire of China and the principle of equal opportunity in whatever concerns the commerce and industry of all nations in that empire, and engage to sustain and defend the maintenance of the status quo and respect for this principle by all the pacific means within their reach.

In witness whereof, the undersigned, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention and have affixed their seals.

Done at St. Petersburg, the 30th day of the 7th month of the 40th year of Meiji, corresponding to the 30th (17th) of July, 1907.

Experimental regulations for the collection of duty on native and foreign goods shipped to the new ports in Manchuria.-November 19,

1907

I. All foreign goods which have paid the regular import duty at Tientsin, New-chwang, Antung, or Dalny, as well as all native goods which have paid the coast-trade half-duty (except such as may be sent into the interior either under transit pass or by paying likin, as may still be done at the discretion of the owner and under the old regulations) and which are intended for transhipment to any of the newly opened ports in Manchuria, will be given a special certificate exempting them from the payment of further duty, and this is irrespective of how such goods are to be transhipped to their destination. This special certificate will be stamped in accordance with regulations, and will be good for two months only.

Whenever such certificates are applied for, a signed declaration must be presented showing to what port the goods are consigned, and stating that in case evidence of the arrival of the goods in the port mentioned is not forthcoming within the two months limit, the applicant will be willing to forfeit three times the amount of the half-duty. In order to avoid the trouble of

1 MACMURRAY, vol. I, p. 683; translation, as printed in For. Rel., 1908, p. 127, from Chinese text.

In connection with these regulations, see the additional agreement between Japan and China, December 22, 1905 (No. 13, ante), particularly Article 1.