267
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
C.O.
SOUTH-WEST CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
31967
[August 28.]
REC
Rect 6 SEP 05 SECTION 1.
No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to the Marquess of Lansdowne,.-(Received August 28.)
(No. 17.) My Lord,
Yunnan-fu, July 9, 1905.
1 HAVE the honour to inclose copy of a report which I have addressed to lis Majesty's Minister submitting translation of a despatch from Ting, Governor-General of the Yun-Kuei, to the Wai-wu Pu, covering the report of Shih Taotai on the recent joint investigation of the Burmah-Yünnan borderland north of Tengyueh.
I have, &c. (Signed)
W. H. WILKINSON.
$
(No. 27.) Sir,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Sir E. Salow,
Yunnan-fu, July 8, 1905. TWO days ago Ting Chiht'ai courteously sent me, informally, copy of his despatch to the Wai-wu Pu, covering the report of Shih Taotai on the results of the recent joint inquiry into the features and conditions of the borderland between Burmah and Yunnan north of Manung Pum. Of this despatch I have the honour to inclose copy and translation.
The Governor-General had earlier informed me that he did not propose to comment on the report, but to leave the conclusions to be drawn from it to be discussed between yourself and the Wai-wn Pu. This resolution, as you will see, his Excellency adheres to in his present despatch, and I cannot learn that he has sent any other communication, even privately or confidentially, to the Government at Peking.
Mr. Litton has supplied me with the Chinese text, and in some cases with the English version, of his correspondence with Shih Taotai; but as I understand that he has also forwarded copies to the Legation, I do not append these papers. From this correspondence you will have learnt that Shih Taotai claims as Chinese territory the whole country lying between the Nmaikha-Salwen watershed to the east and the Ngaw-chang (Siao-chiang) and Kansheng Rivers to the west, together with a few villages on the headwaters of the Chipway. The only portion of this country directly referred to in Ting Chiht'ai's covering despatch is the central district, which includes the chai (stockades or defensible villages) of Tzu-chu and Hparé. This district his Excellency claims for the two Fu-yi or native Chiefs of Mingkuang, a valley to the east of the watershed. The claim really rests on certain certificates of succession granted to the predecessors of these Chiefs by the Board of War in 1839 and 1841, and it will be noticed that the Governor-General is careful to attach copies of these documents to his despatch. Since in that despatch his Excellency speaks of a time when "British troops crossed the frontier and created disturbance," it is permissible to believe that his object in laying stress on this part of the Chinese claim is due to a desire to vindicate his attitude in the matter of the " Hparé mcident," and even to reopen that question. He has, however, said nothing to me, so far, on this subject.
13
You will notice that Shih Taotai appears. to have regarded the late inquiry as limited to the frontier of the Tengyuch Sub-Prefecture (or of the Yungch'ang Prefecture), for he speaks of the Mission as surveying successively northwards till the confines of the jurisdiction of the Li-chiang Prefect were reached," in latitude 26° 30′.
On the other hand, Mr. Litton regarded his own informal offer of 4,000 rupees for entertainment of Chinese Headmen," as conditional ou the recognition of the N'maikha-Salwen divide as the frontier "up to the confines of Thibet "--some 2 degrees further north. In this region, however, as Mr. Litton pointed out in his Memorandum of last August, certain Chiu-t'zü Chiefs from the headwaters of the Irrawaddy pay annually at Yedru a tribute that is remitted to Li-chiang. It would seem likely, therefore, that the Chinese would insist on a further mission of inquiry for
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