The main purpose of the British proposals is said to
be to meet the reasonable claims of-Chinese nationalism and to convince the whole of China that the Powers have no desire whatever to subject the country to foreign domination. The Memorandum proceeds on the assump- tion that China must be regarded as an entity and that she must decide for herself which of the various groups in China shall form the future Central Government. This line is at least logical ; the existing Treaties were made with China as a whole and it is desirable that the fresh Treaties should also be made with China as a whole. At present it looks as though the Kuomintang will establish its claim to be the supreme authority, but that is not for the Powers but for the Chinese to determine._ The Memorandum suggests that an attempt should be made to apply the spirit of the Washington Treaties of 1922 to the existing conditions. For instance, the sur-taxes promised at Washington might be made immediately operative throughout China. The sur-taxes, that is to say, would be granted even before it became clear who would form the Central Government.
