or in fact maintained in the grounds of any of the foreign Legations in China, shall be limited in their use to sending and receiving government messages and shall not receive or send commercial or personal or unofficial messages, including press matter: Provided, however, that in case all other telegraphic communication is interrupted then, upon official notification accompanied by proof of such interruption to the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Communications, such stations may afford temporary facilities for commercial and personal messages until the Chinese Government has given notice of the termination of the interruption.

2. All radio-stations operated within the territory of China by foreign governments or their citizens under treaties or concessions of the Government of China, shall limit the messages sent and received by the terms of the treaties or concessions under which the respective stations are maintained.

3. In case there be any radio-station maintained in the territory of China by a foreign government or citizens or subjects thereof without the authority of the Chinese Government, such station and all the plant, apparatus and material thereof shall be transferred to and taken over by the Government of China, to be operated under the direction of the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Communications, upon fair and full compensation to the owners for the value of the installation, so soon as the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Communications is prepared to operate the same effectively for the general public benefit.

4. If any question shall arise as to radio-stations in the leased territories, South Manchurian railway zones, and the French Concession in Shanghai, it is agreed that these shall be matters for discussion between the Chinese Government and the Governments concerned.

5. The owners or managers of all rado-stations maintained in the territory of China by foreign powers or citizens or subjects thereof shall confer with the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Communications for the purpose of seeking a common arrangement to avoid interference in the use of wave-lengths by wireless stations in China, subject to such general arrangements as may be made by a general international conference for the revision of the rules established by

the International Radio Telegraph Convention signed at London, July 5, 1912.

Viviani Resolution. At the fifteenth meeting of the Committee of the Whole, held December 12, a draft of a motion (dated December 7) was submitted by M. Viviani which was as follows:

Whereas competition in the establishment and operation of wireless stations in China, far from bringing about the creation of the necessary radio communications between China and the other countries, has on the contrary, produced results the reverse of those aimed at, the powers represented at the Washington conference consider that this competition should give way to co-operation under the control of the Government of China.

Therefore, it is decided that a committee shall be formed, including representatives of the interested countries and of China, to draw up practical recommendations in accordance with which this cooperation shall be accomplished in conformity with the following principles:

(1) The purpose of the co-operation should not be to favor certain interest at the expense of others but to enable China to obtain radio communications established and operated as much in its own interests as in that of the public of all countries and to avoid the waste of capital, of staff, of material, and of wave lengths.

(2) To this end China should be enabled to possess, as soon as possible, radio stations with all the latest technical improvements that can be contributed by the various companies of the countries which are concerned in the improvement of radio communications with China.

(3) Radio communications within the Chinese territory shall be subject to the Chinese laws and the external radio communications (between China and other countries) shall be regulated by the international conventions governing such matters.

(4) The Governments of the powers mentioned in the preamble shall give no support to any company or any person who does not conform to the above principles as well as to the practical rules prescribed in accordance with the recommendations of the committee.

SUPPLEMENTARY SUGGESTION

(5) The rates charged for radio communications shall never be higher than the rates for communications by wire or by cable for equivalent distances, and Government and press messages shall benefit by a reduction of at least 50 per cent.

In explanation of this motion, Mr. Viviani said that its aim was to save China from being invaded by a swarm of little competing radio companies by strengthening the present companies and enabling them to render efficient service. Its aim was not, however, to establish a monopoly in China upon the part of the existing companies.

Mr. Balfour thought that it was proper that the Conference should seek to bring present and future radio concessions in China into harmony with one another and without infringement of China's sovereignty, and that Mr. Viviani's proposals might be taken as a starting point for that purpose. He was inclined to the opinion that future radio rights in China should be arranged upon the consortium principle.

No action upon Mr. Viviani's proposals was taken at that time but the matter postponed so that the Delegations could have opportunity to consult their experts upon it. The matter of radio stations in China was not again brought up for discussion until the twenty-fifth meeting of the Committee of the Whole, held January 24, 1922. At that meeting Mr. Root said that while he was, upon the whole, in agreement with the purposes of the motion of Mr. Viviani, the matter was a grave question of policy which primarily and fundamentally should be determined

66

by the Government of China. . . . . The question lay between building up an electrical wireless system in China upon the principle of free competition, or building it up upon the principle of co-operation or consortium. . . . . One method, that of competition,

was the method that existed in the United States today; another method, that of controlled cooperation, was the method that existed in many other countries. China ought to determine which she would follow; then the powers represented ought to help her in that course, but he did not think that the committee was in a position to decide now. With that end in view he had prepared for submission to the Drafting SubCommittee a resolution which corresponded to Mr. Viviani's motion for the appointment of a committee or commission, but which, instead of undertaking to decide the fundamental question of policy in advance of the consideration of the commission, left that to be one of the things to be determined from the report of the commission."

Chinese Statement. At the twenty-sixth meeting of the Committee of the Whole, held January 25, Mr. Sze, in behalf of the Delegation, made the following statement with reference to the policy of the Chinese Government regarding wireless communication:

I hope I have made it clear on a previous occasion that wireless stations not owned and operated by the Chinese Government, at present found in China, should, at the earliest possible moment, by negotiation with owners, be handed over to the operation and control of the Chinese Government. To state it clearly, I may say that the continuance of such radio stations under foreign operation as now exist in China, without its express consent, is only a matter of

sufferance upon the part of China, and that their existence and continuance can be legalized only when the foreign nations concerned have obtained from the Chinese Government its formal consent thereto.

It is known to the world that in China wire telegraphy is a Government monopoly, and it will be a logical development to this Government monopoly that the Government should establish and maintain all wireless communications within the territory of China as a Government monopoly. The two systems of communication must cooperate, and in order that this cooperation may be harmonious, and efficient, it is necessary that both should be owned, controlled and operated by the Government.

The nature of international wireless communication makes international cooperation highly desirable. This cooperation is needed in order that several stations of different nationality may not interfere with each other's wave lengths, and that unnecessary high powered stations may not be established, or at improper places, and that suitable arrangements may be made for the distribution by wire telegraph or otherwise within the individual states of the wireless messages when received. Therefore, this important subject of international wireless communication is a matter which should be the subject of discussion looking toward cooperation between all stations concerned. While I do not pretend to be an expert on wireless communications, it seems to me that so important an international question should be dealt with as a whole, and not by taking China as a single unit for international discussion. As this Conference has been called-and its work has proved-for the purpose of assisting China by the removal of existing limitations on her sovereign rights, I am inclined to think that the public might have misapprehension should any such commission be appointed to deal with, even if only to discuss and report on, such a subject, which is manifestly China's own and sole problem. My honored friend, Senator Root, has truly remarked that it is a "grave question of policy, which primarily and fundamentally should be determined by the Government of China." Senator Root also remarked yesterday that the questions of competition or controlled cooperation are not uniform in practice in all countries. In view of this fact, and the importance of the