撒网与反制:民初中英关于新疆拓侨活动的角力

Wide Net Policy and Countermeasures:The Sino-British Wrestling on the Registration of Chinese Subjects in Xinjiang before 1930s

近代英国以拓展侨民的方式扩张在新疆的势力。英国首任驻喀什噶尔代表马继业基于与俄国竞争的需求,突破先前自身确立的关于限制英民登记的“联系原则”,转而以“广撒网政策”大量引诱华民等入英籍。随后,英方大肆开展“登记运动”,使得诸多华民以英民身份在新省享有关税豁免、治外法权等特权,因而遭到中方的强力反制。在中方的严正交涉下,英方不得不“有限撤退”,不但禁止了华民冒籍登记,还将在新省受到英国保护的英民范围限缩在两代印民以内。近代英国在中国沿海通商口岸和新省等内地攫取了治外法权,但对英民的身份采取了不同的认定标准。“两代原则”突破了英帝国法的规定,其原因部分在于英帝国基于管辖空间的复杂性,从而将国籍法问题转化为管辖政策问题,但中方对主权的正当维护也起到了关键作用。

The British officials in Xinjiang intended to gain an advantaged position by increasing the registration of Asiatic subjects like Chinese from 1880s to 1930s.The first British representative in Kashgar,George Macartney,defied the established“connection principle”that limited the registration of British subjects to compete with Russia and instead proposed a“throw a wide net”policy to entice many Chinese subjects to register as British subjects.The Chinese side vigorously retaliated against when the British officials launched a large-scale“registration campaign”that benefited local Chinese the extraterritorial jurisdiction and tariff exemption as British subjects.In response to the solemn claims of the Chinese side,the British side was forced to“limited skedaddle”which not only forbade Chinese subjects from fraudulently registering but reduced the number of subjects entitled British nationality in Xinjiang to two generations of Indian subjects.Britain claimed extraterritorial jurisdiction in open ports and interior like Xinjiang,but the verification of the subjecthood differs respectively.The British Empire converted the nationality law into a jurisdictional policy due to the intricacy of the jurisdictional space,which partly benefited the“two-generation principle”to bypass the British imperial law.Chinese government’s upholding of sovereignty equally contributed to the justification of the non-uniform application of British imperial law.