IN CHINA
THE DIPLOMATIC ACTION OF THE POWERS IN PEKING
A Clarification of the Disagreements Relating to Shanghai.

Some information, from English sources, tends to support the legend of disagreements that arose between the French Minister to China and his colleagues in the diplomatic corps in Beijing regarding the incidents in Shanghai. A clarification is necessary. Following the events that occurred on May 31st in the Shanghai International Concession (whose municipality includes nine British subjects out of eleven municipal councilors), a commission of inquiry was appointed. It consisted of two senior Chinese officials and six councilors from the foreign legations, including that of Great Britain. This commission tried in vain to negotiate a provisional arrangement with the Chinese delegation, pending the final agreement to be negotiated in Beijing between the diplomatic corps and the Chinese central government. Having encountered irreconcilable opposition between the Chinese delegation and the Municipality of the Shanghai International Concession, this commission confined itself to establishing the conclusions of its investigation and reporting on its mission to the diplomatic corps in Beijing.
The diplomatic corps, unanimously (i.e., with the full consent of the British Minister), adopted the conclusions of the investigation report attributing part of the responsibility for the Shanghai incidents to the foreign police of the International Concession. The diplomatic corps also unanimously adopted a number of sanctions, which it decided to notify to the Shanghai International Municipality, the Chinese government, and the press, before any talks began in Beijing with a view to reaching an agreement between the diplomatic corps and the Chinese central government.
There was therefore perfect agreement between the representatives of the powers (including that of Great Britain) regarding the notification made on July 6 to the Shanghai International Municipality. This municipality, however, refused to comply and referred the matter by telegram to London, from where instructions were sent to the British minister to oppose the notification he had decided upon (in agreement with his colleagues in the diplomatic corps) being made to the Chinese government.
Under these circumstances, the French minister, who had agreed, along with two other delegates, to represent the diplomatic corps at the negotiations underway in Beijing for the settlement of the Shanghai incidents, considered that his role was over, as the discussion could no longer be conducted by delegates from a diplomatic corps within which unanimity no longer existed.
Above all, the issue was to resolve the conflict that had arisen between the municipality of Shanghai and the diplomatic corps in Beijing. This issue is currently the subject of an exchange of views between the governments concerned, which bring to it the spirit of trust and solidarity that has remained undiminished since the beginning of the Chinese crisis. There is already unanimous agreement among the powers on the principle of the authority of the diplomatic corps in Beijing with regard to the municipal council of the Shanghai International Concession. Regarding the procedure to be followed for the settlement of incidents occurring on this concession, there were at no time any differences of opinion between the French minister and his British colleague, nor, for that matter, between the cabinets in London and Paris, which have not yet deemed it useful to exchange specific observations on this question, currently under collective consideration.

Demonstration Fails in Beijing
PEKING, July 18. The large demonstration planned for today, which aimed to demand that negotiations be immediately initiated with Great Britain solely for the return of the British concessions to China and the abolition of unjust treaties, was a complete failure: few people took part. Most of the participants were extremists. At the rally, the communists and non-communists began to insult each other and almost came to blows. They separated in disorder without having made a decision.