Agreement with Japan Initialled to Complete Treaties Nanking, Mar. 17, It is authoritatively confirmed that a tariff autonomy agreement. between China and Japan was in-{tilled at Nanking last week by Dr. C. T. Wang, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. M. Shigemitsy, Charge d'Affaires for Japan, and has. been transmitted to the respect ive Governments for final approval. Formal signature to the agreement. and its public announcement are shortly tobe expected.
The signing of the agreement with Japan completes the series of treaties and agreements begun by the Treaty with the United States, signed on July 25, 1928, with the object of achieving tariff autonomy. It marks the final attainment one of the major diplomatic aims of the National Government.
For more than a year after all other countries had entered into tariff autonomy treaties with China, it had avt been possible to arrive at an understanding with The new tariff schedule put into effect on February 1, 1929, (and which was an adaptation of the original Seven Schedule Tariff arrived at after negotiations with the foreign governments in 1926) was agreed to by Japan only after protracted negotiations. To this day, owing to the Japanese control of Dairen, the export tariff of the Three Eastern Provinces continues to be collected in accordance with the old rates, and Japan continues to insist upon the special land frontier rates of duty, which are 32) per cent, lower than the Maritime Customs tariff, The conclusion of the present agreement marks the definite recognition by Japan of China's complete tariff autonomy, and will also terminate the unsatisfactory situation that obtains with regard to the Three Eastern Provinces, It will further mean the relingui ment of the special land front duty rates, which Japan alone enjoying on the frontier.
Asa temporary measure of transition, the agreement is accom panied by an arrangement of limit-scope, and for a limited period, providing' that on a few articles of Chinese export, Japan agrees to reduce the duties somewhat; while for certain articles of import, dur 1 @ short period, China agrees to maintain the present rates or not to increase them beyond a cer-Point, It is emphasized that the transitory arrangement covers a limited number of articles, and only for a limited period, which will be soon when the whole agreement is published. This temporary -measure is means of regularizing Sino-Japar ese relations on the basis of China's complete tariff autonomy, and it does not mark any departure from the general policy of not negotiate ing agreements embodying mutual tariff coneessions—Kuo Min.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.