I agreed with my colleagues in reporting these measures as necessary, but, as
stated to you in my dispatch No. 39 of March 12 last, I doubt whether any
serious attempt is made, except, perhaps, by Russia, to carry it into
effect.
[Inclosure to No.
67.—Translation.]
Report of the Commission on the interdiction of the
importation of arms and munitions.
[Received by the diplomatic corps
March 20, 1901.]
[N. B.—The parts between () were struck out by the
diplomatic corps; the parts in italics were added.]
The commission deems it its duty to call the attention of the
representatives of the powers to the Wording of Article V of the Joint
Note concerning the interdiction of the importation of arms.
Said article provides for the maintenance, under conditions to be settled
between the powers, of the interdiction of the importation of arms and
of material used exclusively in the manufacture of arms and
ammunition.”
[Page 131]
It is beyond a doubt that, in the opinion of the representatives, it was
stipulated to forbid the importation into the Chinese Empire: First, of
arms; second, of ammunition for firearms; third, of material used
exclusively in the manufacture of arms, and fourth, of material used
exclusively in the manufacture of ammunition.
So as to prevent the omission in Article V of the words and of
ammunition” after those of “interdiction of the importation of arms,”
giving rise to misunderstandings, the commission is of opinion that it
would be advisable to clearly define in the future correspondence of the
representatives of the powers the four classes of objects the
importation of which is forbidden by the joint note.
As the carrying out of Article V of the joint note depends much more on
the powers themselves than on China, the commission deems it absolutely
essential that all the powers having treaties with China should reach an
agreement between themselves to maintaining in their domains the
prohibition of the exportation to China of arms, of ammunition, and of
material used exclusively in the manufacture of arms and of
ammunition.
The commission is of opinion that the enumeration of the objects whose
exportation to China should be prohibited can only be made by the
authorities competent in the matter.
(The list of the objects should be communicated by the Governments to the
foreign representatives at Peking so that the latter may take) When the list of the objects shall have been agreed to
by common consent by the Governments, the representatives of the
powers at Peking shall take the necessary measures to preclude
the possibility of their fraudulent entry.
These measures can only prove efficacious if the authorities intrusted
with carrying them out are given the right of seizure and of
confiscation of the contraband articles and of the ships taken flagrante delicto (transporting contraband
destined for China on discharging it) on arriving in
China with contraband on board or unloading it either in an
open port or on the coast.
In the opinion of the commission, these authorities should be:
- 1.
- The Maritime Customs, who should be responsible for all
fraudulent importation by a foreign ship into the open ports,
who would have the right to seize any ship, as well foreign as
Chinese, and its cargo, as well in the open ports as on the
coast, and who would hand over the captured ships and cargo to
the consul of the ship’s nationality in the first port in which
there was one, in case the ship is foreign, and to the consular
body of the port, in case the ship were Chinese.
- 2.
- The consulary body and the consuls who would have the right to
lodge information concerning any attempt to land contraband, no
matter to what nationality, belongs the ship carrying the
contraband destined for China, to the officers of the customs
and to the other competent authorities (commanders of ships of
war, consuls at neighboring ports, etc.), to confiscate the
cargoes and to prosecute before the consuls the ships captured
and the persons taking part in the bringing in of
contraband.
- 3.
- The commanders of ships of war, who would have the right to
seize on arrival the ships and the
contraband and to deliver them to the first ship of war of the
nationality of the ship taken in the act of unloading contraband
or to the consul of its nationality in the neighboring open port
in case the ship is foreign, and to deliver it to the consular
body of the nearest open port in case of a Chinese ship. The consular court who, in this case, shall be
called upon to adjudicate shall be constituted on the lines
of the court of consuls of Shanghai. This tribunal shall
order the destruction of the contraband, the confiscation
and the sale of the ship, the amount to be handed over to
the maritime customs.
(In the latter case the contraband shall be destroyed.)
The commission thinks it necessary for the countries conterminous with
China to adopt on their part the indispensable measures necessary for
the interdiction of the importation into China of arms, ammunition,
etc., by land routes.
The commission is of opinion that a period of at least five years (the
diplomatic corps divided on the figure of five years, adhered to only by
a majority), should be fixed for the interdiction of the importation of
arms, etc., with faculty of extending the term if all the powers agree
thereto.
Finally, the commission thinks that an Imperial edict should be issued
and published in China forbidding the importation of arms, ammunition,
etc.
- Michel de Giers,
- Ernest Satow,
- W. W. Rockhill.
