The Treaty of Amity between the Republic of China and the Republic of the Philippines was signed at Manila on 18 April 1947. Plenipotentiaries: Chen Chih-ping for the Republic of China and President Manuel Roxas for the Philippines. Authentic texts: Chinese and English, in duplicate. The DONE formula is not transcribed. It is the first year of Philippine independence and the thirty-sixth year of the Republic of China. It is not a treaty with the People’s Republic of China, proclaimed later.

Article I proclaims perpetual peace and everlasting amity between the two republics and their peoples. Article II: disputes not settled by diplomacy, mediation or arbitration shall not be settled by force, but referred to the International Court of Justice. Articles III and IV recognise, as a principle, the right to send and receive diplomatic and consular representatives, with the immunities of general international law; mission regulations are not transcribed.

Articles V–VII grant nationals, subject to the other party’s laws and on most-favoured-nation terms vis-à-vis any third country, liberties of travel and residence, schools, peaceful assembly, worship, succession and lawful pursuits, plus equal protection of person and property. This is not a visa or land-purchase guide. Article VIII provides for a later treaty of commerce and navigation. Article IX excludes advantages accorded by the Philippines to the United States or its nationals.

Article X requires constitutional ratification; entry into force on the exchange of instruments, at Manila. The exchange took place on 24 October 1947. United Nations registration: 19 December 1947, Treaty Series No. 175, volume 11, by the Chinese delegation. The register source is that UNTS volume, not a digest. Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice database still carries the text with the same signature date (year 36, month 4, day 18 of the republican calendar).

Cover: Manila, the place of signature; no claim is made to the ceremony. Wikimedia Commons, free licence. The NARA photograph is an urban landscape, not the presidential palace.

Sources consulted: Sino-Philippine Treaty of Amity; Treaty of Amity. Signed at Manila (UNTS No. 175).