§ 32. Mr. LOOKERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can state the precise nature of the taxation to which British subjects will be liable under the proposals he has made to the Chinese authorities; whether such taxation will be confined to municipal taxation only or will extend to other taxation; and, if so, to what extent?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINUnder the proposals which His Majesty's Government have recently made to the Chinese authorities, British subjects in China would be liable to pay such regular and legal Chinese taxation, not involving discrimination against British subjects or 1373 British goods, as is in fact imposed on and paid by Chinese citizens throughout China. It would obviously be undesirable, in view of the fact that these proposals are intended to form the subject of negotiations with the Chinese authorities, to discuss the details of their eventual application by way of question and answer in this House.