[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.į
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[10922]
No. 1.
15537
3
RECE
[AP RE69 2 MAY 07
SECTION 4.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 6.)
(No. 93.) Sir,
Peking, February 19, 1907. WITH reference to my despatch No. 33 of the 21st ultimo, I have the honour to inclose copies of further correspondence with Prince Ching on the subject of the Bhamo-Tengyueh Railway.
His Highness' reply of the 24th ultimo seeks to diminish the force of his note of the 16th March, 1902, addressed to Sir E. Satow, and objects to our founding claims to railway privileges on the engagement contained therein and on the Concession granted to the French Government. In my rejoinder of the 31st ultimo I have merely insisted on the unequivocal nature of the engagement, which undoubtedly gives us the right to Railway Concessions in Yünnan similar to those given to French enterprise.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Wai-uru Pu to Sir J. Jordan.
(Translation.) Sir,
January 24, 1907. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of the 14th January on the subject of the Tengyueh Railway, expressing surprise that no mention was made in my note of the 28th December of the correspondence which passed between Sir E. Satow and myself on this subject in March 1902, and stating, under instructions, that His Majesty's Government claim the right to construct the Bhamo-Tengyueh Railway under the engagement of the 16th March, 1902, but do not consider that a Concession for that short line is fully equivalent to the Concession granted in April 1898 to the French Government, or French Company to be designated by that Government, to build a railway from Laokay to Yunnan-fu.
I have the honour to observe that the Burmah Convention of 197 made the following addition to Article XII :--
"The Chinese Government agrees hereafter to consider whether the conditions of trade justify the construction of railways in Yunnan, and, in the event of their construction, agrees to connect them witli the Burmese lines."
This implies that the question of railways in that part of China should be examined into by China herself. Then, in the replies returned to Sir E. Satow on the 30th October and the 6th December, 1901, this principle was reiterated and firmly adhered to by the Board; and it was further pointed out that the French railway from the Tonquin frontier to Yunnan-fu, being one which was authorized by Treaty, was on a different footing from those contemplated by the Burmah Convention, the reason underlying this statement being that the international affairs of any two countries rest upon their individual Treaty obligations, and that it is evidently impossible to bring forward obligations incurred towards a third party and import them into the discussion.
Subsequently, on the 12th March, 1902, Sir E. Satow informed me in writing that Mr. Litton, His Majesty's Acting Consul at Tengyueh, was about to proceed to Yunnan-fu to discuss railway, frontier, and other matters with the Viceroy, and stated that, with regard to railway connection between Burmah and Yunnan and measures for the advancement of trade, whatever privileges were conceded to French enterprise in Yünnan should be similarly accorded to British enterprise. He requested that a communication should be addressed in this sense to the Viceroy; and the Board took the language of this note, viz., "to discuss railway, frontier, and other matters," and "railway connection between Burmah and Yunnan," by the special mention of the
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