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 Agreement contained a quid pro quo, Japan waiving the claim of jurisdiction over the Koreans, China granting them the special privilege of possessing agricultural lands.

Both countries continued to observe the agreement after the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, China contending that the Treaty and Notes of 1915 could not alter the stipulations of the Chientao Agreement, especially as the new Treaty contained a clause specifying that "all existing treaties between China and Japan relating to Manchuria shall, except as otherwise provided for by this Treaty, remain in force". No exception was made for the Chientao Agreement. The Chinese Government further contends that the Treaty and Notes of 1915 do not apply to the Chientao District, since the latter is not geographically a part of "South Manchuria"—a term which is ill-defined both geographically and politically.

This Chinese contention has been contested by the Japanese since 1915, their position being that, inasmuch as the Koreans became Japanese subjects by virtue of the annexation of Korea in 1910, the provisions of the Sino-Japanese Treaty and Notes of 1915 concerning South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, which grant Japanese subjects the right to reside and lease lands in South Manchuria and to participate in joint agricultural enterprises in Eastern Inner Mongolia, apply equally to the Koreans. The Japanese Government has contended that the Chientao Agreement was superseded by those provisions of the 1915 agreements in conflict therewith, that the Chinese contention that the Chientao Agreement isa self-contained instrument is untenable, since the right secured by the Koreans in Chientao was actually in consequence of Japan's agreement to recognise that region as a part of Chinese territory. It asserts that it would be discriminatory on its part to refrain from seeking for the Koreans in Manchuria rights and privileges granted to other Japanese subjects.

The Japanese reason for favouring the acquisition of land by Koreans in Manchuria is partly due to their desire to obtain rice exports for Japan, a desire which, so far, has been but partly satisfied, since probably hall the rice production of over seven million bushels in 1930 is consumed locally, and the export of the balance has been restricted. The Japanese assert that the Korean tenants, after having reclaimed waste lands and making them profitable for the Chinese owners, have been unjustly ejected. The Chinese, on the other hand, while equally desirous of having the cultivable lowlands producing rice, have generally employed the Koreans as tenants or labourers to prevent the land itself from falling into Japanese, hands. Many Koreans have therefore become naturalised Chinese subjects in order to possess land, some of them, however, having acquired such titles, transferring them to Japanese land-mortgage associations. This suggests one reason why there has been a difference of opinion among the Japanese themselves as to whether naturalisation of Koreans as Chinese subjects should be recognised by the Japanese Government.

Under a Chinese Nationality Law of 1914, only aliens who, under the law of their own country, were permitted to become naturalised in another were capable of being naturalised Chinese subjects. The Chinese revised Nationality Law of February 5th, 1929, however, contained no provision by which an alien was required to lose his original nationality in order to acquire Chinese nationality. Koreans were therefore naturalised as Chinese regardless of the Japanese insistence that such naturalisation could not be recognised under Japanese law. The Japanese nationality laws have never permitted Koreans to lose their Japanese nationality and, although a revised Nationality Law of 1924 contained an article to the effect that "a person who acquires foreign nationality voluntarily loses Japanese nationality", this general law has never been made applicable to the Koreans by special Imperial Ordinance. Nevertheless, many Koreans in Manchuria, varying from 5 to 20 per cent of the total Korean population in certain districts, especially where they are