The Anglo-Japanese conference has been opened in pursuance of the British desire. The Japanese Government, considering it necessary first of all to obtain an understanding with the British Government regarding the general questions which form the background of the Tientsin situation, started negotiation for the purpose at the outset of the conference, as the result of which an agreement on general principles was reached on July 22, as already announced.
Following the conclusion of the agreement on general principles, the conference took up for discussion various concrete questions in Tientsin. In this discussion, the Japanese Government made demands regarding policing and economic matters, which are indispensable to more efficient maintenance of peace and order on the spot and also to the existence and
security of the Japanese forces in China. It is hardly necessary to say that all those matters as well as those points in which we asked for British co-operation can be dealt with by Britain within her competence. Therefore, it is not warrantable to regard the nature of those demands as beyond the scope of the conference, nor is there any justification for an attempt to ban them as the subject of an agreement between Japan and Great Britain. Take the currency and silver question for instance. The Japanese Government have drawn the attention of the British Government to the fact that, as the result of the continued circulation of fapi in the British concession at Tientsin, lawless elements, by taking advantage of it, have been making operations both within and without the concession for disturbing economic conditions as well as peace and order. Therefore, they have been only requesting the British Government to take all possible measures for prevention of such a situation.
With regard to the question of Chinese silver holdings, the Japanese Government have been requesting the British Government that the British concession authorities make no interference with the transfer of those holdings from the concession. There is no room for argument that these matters can be a subject of discussion between Japan and Great Britain and also that they are local issues of Tientsin, nor is there reason to claim that these matters cannot be settled between the two countries or that they are not of a local character. It may be recalled that in accepting the British proposal for opening the Tokyo conference, the Japanese Government made it clear to the British Government that the Japanese proposals will have bearing on military, political and economic requirements for the existence and security of the Japanese forces in China. The British Government not only entered the conference on this understanding, but the British representatives made no objection on July 27 when the Japanese representatives again informed them to that effect at the start of discussion of the economic questions between the two delegations. On August 1, the British representatives agreed of their own accord to the meeting of a sub-committee on economic questions, and entered into a definite discussion of the economic question. This clearly shows that the British Government have had no intention to exclude the economic questions from the outset of the conference.
While asserting that it is not their desire to shelve the economic questions, the British Government contend that those questions should be solved in relation to an ultimate settlement of the Sino-Japanese dispute. This is evidently a self-contradiction on the part of Great Britain. Britain invoked the Nine-Power Treaty in the latter part of their statement, but the attitude of the Japanese Government regarding the pact has been repeatedly made clear. It is beyond comprehension for the Japanese Government how discussion of the Nine-Power Treaty can be useful in settling the Tientsin issues. If the British Government intend to invite intervention of third Powers in an attempt to seek a favourable conclusion of the negotiations, the Japanese Government cannot but point out that they would never admit such an attempt, which would only serve to delay and complicate the questions.