Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The Chinese Government has agreed to participate financially in the
work of bettering the water approaches to Shanghai and to Tientsin, the
centers of foreign trade in central and northern China, and an
international conservancy board, in which the Chinese Government is
largely represented, has been provided for the improvement of the
Shanghai River and the control of its navigation. In the same line of
commercial advantages a revision of the present tariff on imports has
been assented to for the purpose of substituting specific for ad
valorem duties, and an expert has been sent abroad on the part of the
United States to assist in this work. A list of articles to remain free
of duty, including flour, cereals, and rice, gold and silver coin and
bullion, has also been agreed upon in the settlement.
During these troubles our Government has unswervingly advocated
moderation, and has materially aided in bringing about an adjustment
which tends to enhance the welfare of China and to lead to a more
beneficial intercourse between the Empire and the modern world; while
in the critical period of revolt and massacre we did our full share in
safe-guarding life and property, restoring order, and vindicating the
national interest and honor. It behooves us to continue in these paths,
doing what lies in our power to foster feelings of good will, and
leaving no effort untried to work out the great policy of full and fair
intercourse between China and the nations, on a footing of equal rights
and advantages to all. We advocate the "open door" with all that it
implies; not merely the procurement of enlarged commercial
opportunities on the coasts, but access to the interior by the
waterways with which China has been so extraordinarily favored. Only by
bringing the people of China into peaceful and friendly community of
trade with all the peoples of the earth can the work now auspiciously
begun be carried to fruition. In the attainment of this purpose we
necessarily claim parity of treatment, under the conventions,
throughout the Empire for our trade and our citizens with those of all
other powers.
We view with lively interest and keen hopes of beneficial results the
proceedings of the Pan-American Congress, convoked at the invitation of
Mexico, and now sitting at the Mexican capital. The delegates of the
United States are under the most liberal instructions to cooperate with
their colleagues in all matters promising advantage to the great family
of American commonwealths, as well in their relations among themselves
as in their domestic advancement and in their intercourse with the
world at large.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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