British-Chinese Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China

The Sino-British New Equal Treaty, or the Sino-British Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China was a bilateral treaty concluded between the British and the Chinese governments in Chongqing on 11 January 1943. The formal name of the treaty was Treaty Between His Majesty in Respect of the United Kingdom and India and His Excellency the President of the National Government of the Republic of China for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China and the Regulation of Related Matters.

Under that treaty, the British government relinquished any special rights it had in China. This was done as a conciliatory step towards the Chinese government in order to boost up its cooperation with the Allied Powers in the Second World War. The treaty was accompanied by a similar treaty on behalf of the U.S. government, concluded on the same day known as the Sino-American New Equal Treaty.

Ratifications were exchanged in Chongqing on 20 May 1943, and the treaty became effective on the same day. It was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on 30 September 1944.

Since the Treaty of Nanjing, concluded in 1842, the British government enjoyed extra-territorial rights in China, which included mainly commercial rights for British companies and extra-territorial rights for British nationals in China. British subjects could only be prosecuted for crimes or have civil cases brought against them before British Consular courts or the British Supreme Court for China and Japan.

The need to modify the conditions of extra-territorial rights in China arose from the dire situation of Chinese-British-U.S. military cooperation following the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and later during the Second World War. On 18 July 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared in Parliament his government's intention of relinquishing extra-territorial rights in China once peace was concluded. The issue was raised again following the outbreak of war in the Pacific in December 1941, and at this point the British position was greatly influenced by the U.S. position. Already in March 1942, agreement was reached among State Department officials regarding the need to modify existing agreements with the Chinese government in the latter's favour in order to improve relations. On 25 April 1942, the British government sounded its positions on the matter in a memorandum to the U.S. government, in which it agreed to abolish extra-territorial jurisdiction in principle, but suggested to postpone negotiations to that effect until the end of the war. On 6 May 1942, the U.S. government responded to the British memorandum that it was not desirable to abrogate extra-territoriality in China at the moment, but that it would consider doing so in case approached about it by the Chinese government. On 27 August 1942, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull suggested that in case negotiations for relinquishing extra-territoriality commence, the following provisions should be included in the treaty:

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