No Objection to Immediate Uncon-_ ditional Lesy by China contrary to the allegations appear-jing in a section of the vernacular ress the Belgian Government as a signatory of the Washington Agreements has never tried and has no intention of making consent to the two and q half and five per cent. surtaxes "dependent upon satisfac. tory settlement of the Sino-Belgian, Treaty controversy. Belgium docs Met object to immediate uncondition~ al levying of these surtaxes.
This friendly attitude of Belgium in line with the policy of sympathy towards Chinese national ai pirations she has consistently pursued and which, on the occasion of the Customs Conference, was gratefully acknowledged by the Chinese delegation as well as by the 'Chinese! Minister at Brussels, who officially thanked the Belgian' Foreign Minister for the liberal spirit shown by the Belgian Delegation at the Conference, If, notwithstanding this friendly attitude and the particularly cordial] relations which have resulted from it, a painful situation has lately arisen betwoon the two countries, the Belgian Minister wis phasize that this situation has not been created by disagreement regarding the regime whereby the future relations of China and Bel-n shall be governed but is simply. due to a difference of opinion con cerning the length of the period, the conclusion of a new in which these relations shall be governed by a transitory regi upon the nature of which both parties are already agreed, is, therefore, quite wrong, Reuter's informant declares, to ce tend that Belgium, in submitting the question to the International Court, is trying to delay conch of a new treaty on a bai ity and mutual respect of territorial sovereignty.
The Belgian Minister further states that Belgium's only object is protection of her interests in China during the period necessary to negotiate the new treaty and have it ratified by the Belgian Parliament.
Belgium does not object to terination of the old Treaty, but it is impossible to accept unilateral abrogation without China granting} leven for one day those transitory, measures of protection which had been agreed upon during the ne
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.