[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[33545]
No. 1.
757
[October 6.]
SECTION 2.
C O.
39437
RESP RJ 20 001 06
(No. 170. Confidential.)
(Telegraphic.) P.
Sir Edward Grey to Sir J. Jordan.
REPEAT the following to Tôkiô :--
Foreign Office, October 6, 1906.
On the 4th October, by instructions of the Wai-wu Pu, the Chinese Minister stated that the Chinese Government were anxious to develop their navy, and inquired whether we would give back Wei-hai Wei, which was the most suitable harbour for this purpose. He pointed out that Wei-hai Wei had been leased to Great Britain for such time as Port Arthur remained in the Russian occupation, which has now ceased.
I said that if the Chinese Government had regained possession of Port Arthur, the question of the termination of the lease of Wei-hai Wei would naturally have arisen, but although transferred from Russia to Japan, the lease of Port Arthur still continued. In reply, he again dwelt on the importance of developing the Chinese navy, and said that the fact that Port Arthur was now in the hands of a friendly Power in alliance with us altered the whole question. I answered that I could only state the views hitherto held about the lease of the port, as the altered view of the Chinese Government on the subject was quite new to me; as regards the navy and the development of her internal resources, we were prepared to give China any help in our power, and had, for that reason, lately refrained from asking the Chinese Government to grant us any new concessions which might prove embarrassing to them. But, in regard to the carrying out of engagements already entered into by China, no progress had been made at Peking.
I described the difficulty as to the Shanghae-Nanking Railway, and said that it was the one about which I was most anxious, and I hoped he would inform the Chinese Government that the delay in that and other matters was the cause of much concern to me.
In reply to inquiry, I said that no immediate answer could be given as to Wei-hai Wei.
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