It may perhaps be hoped that this will make our Chinese policy more
liberal than it has been. We have announced the restoration of
Wei-hai-wei--a piece of generosity which would have been more impressive
but for two facts: first, that Wei-hai-wei is completely useless to us,
and secondly, that the lease had only two more years to run. By the
terms of the lease, in fact, it should have been restored as soon as
Russia lost Port Arthur, however many years it still had to run at that
date.
One very important result of the Washington Conference is the agreement
not to fortify islands in the Pacific, with certain specified
exceptions. This agreement, if it is adhered to, will make war between
America and Japan very difficult, unless we were allied with America.
Without a naval base somewhere near Japan, America could hardly bring
naval force to bear on the Japanese Navy. It had been the intention of
the Navy Department to fortify Guam with a view to turning it into a
first-class naval base. The fact that America has been willing to forgo
this intention must be taken as evidence of a genuine desire to preserve
the peace with Japan.
Various small concessions were made to China. There is to be a revision
of the Customs Schedule to bring it to an effective five per cent. The
foreign Post Offices are to be abolished, though the Japanese have
insisted that a certain number of Japanese should be employed in the
Chinese Post Office.
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