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"Chientao District ", the area in which lived a large number of the Koreans resident in Manchuria.
The Japanese justification for stationing Consular Police in Manchuria.The Japanese claimed that the right to maintain consular police was a corollary to the right of extra-territoriality; that it was merely an extension of the judicial functions of the consular courts, these police being necessary to protect and discipline Japanese subjects. In fact. Japanese consular police, in smaller numbers, have also been attached to Japanese consulates in other parts of China, contrary to the general practice of countries having extra-territorial treaties.
As a practical matter, the Japanese Government apparently believed that the stationing of consular police in Manchuria was a necessity under the conditions which prevailed there, especially in view of the importance of the Japanese interests involved and the large number of resident Japanese subjects, including Koreans.
The Chinese denied the Japanese claims.The Chinese Government, however, always contested this position advanced by Japan as justification for stationing Japanese consular police in Manchuria and sent frequent protests to Japan on the subject. She claimed that there was no necessity to station Japanese police officers anywhere in Manchuria, that the question of police could not be associated with extra-territoriality, and that their presence was without treaty basis and a violation of China's sovereignty.
Whether justified or not, the presence of consular police led in a number of cases to serious conflicts between members of their force and those of the local Chinese authorities.
The right of the Japanese to travel, reside and conduct commercial enterprises in interior places in South Manchuria.The Sino-Japanese Treaty of 1915 provided that "Japanese subjects shall be free to reside and travel in South Manchuria and to engage in business and manufacture of any kind whatsoever This was an important right, but one which was objectionable to the Chinese, since in no other part of China were foreigners as a class permitted to reside and to engage in business outside the Treaty Ports. It was the policy of the Chinese Government to withhold this privilege until extra-territoriality should be abolished and foreigners should be subject to Chinese laws and jurisdiction.
In South Manchuria, however, this right had certain limitations: the Japanese were required to carry passports and observe Chinese laws and regulations while in the interior of South Manchuria; but the Chinese regulations applicable to Japanese were not to be enforced until the Chinese authorities had first "come to an understanding with the Japanese Consul".
On many occasions, the action of the Chinese authorities was inconsistent with the terms of this agreement, the validity of which they always contested. The fact that restrictions were placed upon the residence, travel and business activities of Japanese subjects in the interior of South Manchuria, and that orders and regulations were issued by various Chinese officials prohibiting Japanese or other foreigners from residing outside the Treaty Ports or from renewing leases of buildings is not contested in the documents officially presented to the Commission by the Chinese Assessor. Official pressure, sometimes supported by severe police measures, was exerted upon the Japanese to force them to withdraw from many cities and towns in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, and upon Chinese property owners to prevent them from renting houses to Japanese. It was stated by the Japanese that the Chinese authorities also refused to issue passports to Japanese, harassed them by illegal taxes, and, for some years before September 1931, failed to carry out the stipulation in the agreement by which they had undertaken to submit to the Japanese Consul the regulations which were to be binding upon the Japanese.
The defence and the explanation of the Chinese.The object of the Chinese was the execution of their national policy of restricting the exceptional privileges of Japanese in Manchuria and thus strengthening the control of China over these Three Eastern Provinces. They justified their actions on the ground that they regarded the Treaty