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Newchwang (Niuzhuang) and elsewhere - that might extenuate, but could not justify, Japan's action at Chefoo. The Japanese issued a statement, which ran as follows:
The status of China in the present struggle is unique. Nearly all the military operations are carried on within her borders, but she is not a party to the conflict. Nevertheless, her territories are in part belligerent and in part neutral. That condition of things is, as regards International Law, an anomaly and a contradiction, and in this case it was made the object of a special understanding ... and it seemed that any such occupation or use of neutral Chinese territory or ports by the Russian force would give effect to the proviso in the Japanese engagement which would justify her in considering ports so occupied or used as belligerent. From Port Arthur Russia sought in Chefoo an asylum from attack, which her home port had ceased to afford her. In taking that step, Russia was guilty of a breach of the neutrality of China... and with the termination of the incident the neutrality of the port was revived.
China augmented its force in the Shanghai river with a modern cruiser, with orders to arrest Russian vessels which had sought sanctuary at Wusong. They registered all the names, ages and official titles of the Russian naval personnel on the vessels at Wusong, and the list checked from time to time to ensure that none were missing. Russian warships which escaped from Port Arthur before its capture also took refuge in Chefoo where they were disarmed. These and other Chinese acts revealed their new-found courage and were, almost certainly, due to Japanese successes in the field.
Chinese reports of Russian violations and intrusions on neutral (Chinese) territory were frequent, notably in Kashgaria and other parts of Chinese Eastern Turkestan (present-day Xinjiang). They also frequently violated various parts of Mongolia and Manchuria west of the Liao River in direct contravention of the international agreement made at the commencement of the war by both belligerent powers.
At the end of January 1905 Russian forces suddenly appeared before Kashgar (Kashi), expelled the Chinese garrison, consisting of a Chinese major and some 200 locally-born Chinese soldiers in the old town, and the Tidu or Provincial Commander-in-Chief and five