国際問題としての領事館警察小論 : ワシントン会議からリットン報告書まで

Abstract

日本が領事裁判権を根拠に中国各地に置いた領事館警察は，特に1920年代以降，日中間の外交問題の一つになった。本稿(論文) は領事館警察(の是非) が国際舞台でどう扱われたかについて，ワシントン会議から(満洲事変による) 日本の国際連盟脱退までの期間を対象に，日中両国の主張並びに欧米(主に英米) の見解・対応を整理したものである。 領事館警察に関する日中両国の争点は，(1)領事館警察の法的根拠の有無，(2)領事館警察の実際の活動並びに中国の現状把握，以上2点であった。「第3者」である欧米諸国はこの問題に高 い関心を持っていなかったが，1920年代は日本側主張に理解を示すことが多かった。欧米は日本の主張する領事館警察の法的根拠には否定的であるが，内戦による混乱や警察・司法制度の 不備といった当時の中国の現状から日本が中国に領事館警察を配置することは容認し，警察の 活動にも肯定的であった。しかし日本が引き起こした満洲事変の調停にあたったリットン調査団の報告書になると国際法学者ヤングの主張もあって(法的根拠に加え) 領事館警察の実際活 動の面も批判的にみられるようになる。もっとも，リットン報告書に不満の日本は国際連盟を脱退し，領事館警察を国際舞台の場で議論する機会も失われることになった。

Stationed throughout China on the basis of the jurisdictional authority held by Japanese consulates, the consular police became a problem in China-Japan relations particularly after the 1920s. This article aims to make sense of Chinese and Japanese assertions, as well as Western opinions (especially British and American), from the time of the Washington Conference until Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations in the wake of the Manchurian Incident, as a way of understanding how the positive and negative dimensions of consular police activity were handled on the international stage. There were two main issues of contention between China and Japan in connection with the consular police: 1) whether or not the consular police possessed a legal basis, and 2) the actual activities of the consular police within the context of differing perceptions Chinese conditions at that time. For third party observers in Western nations, neither of these issues were of high interest, but during the 1920s there were numerous indicators of Western sympathy with the Japanese position. Western nations generally held a negative view of Japan's assertion that the consular police had a genuine legal basis, but because of the disorder caused by civil war and the inadequacy of Chinese legal and police institutions at that time, they affirmed Japan's move to station consular police in China and viewed consular police actions positively. However, there were also the assertions of international law scholar C. Walter Young in the Lytton Commission report issued in response to the Manchurian Incident, which were critical of both consular police actions and the dubious legality of the forces themselves. When Japan, dissatisfied with the Lytton Commission report, withdrew from the League on Nations, opportunities to debate issues concerning the consular police on an international stage also disappeared.