This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government
Ref 9 APR 03
[March 7
SECTION 4, CHINA RAILWAYS.CONFIDENTIAL.
(No. 38.) Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.(Received March 7.)
Peking, January 22, 1908. WITH reference to despatch No. 46 of the 18th December from His Majesty's Consul-General at Yunnan-fu, copy of which was sent direct to the Foreign Office, I have the honour to offer the following observations.
Mr. Wilkinson suggests that we should require from the Chinese Government "complete recognition of our right to build a railway from the Burmah frontier to Yunnan-fu on the terms of the French Agreement of 1903."
It need scarcely be pointed out that if it had been possible to obtain from the Chinese Government any further recognition of our rights than was contained in Prince Ching's note of the 16th March, 1902, it would have been gained either by my predecessor or myself, and I know of no other way of "requiring" the Chinese Government to accord further recognition at the present time than by the employment of force.
Mr. Wilkinson further suggests that we should then consent to build the line as far as Tengyueh only on the French terms, while the Chinese Government should build from Tengyueh to Yunnan-fu on the terms of the Canton-Kowloon Railway Agreement. I need only observe that the time has passed when terms might have been obtained similar to the French, which date back to 1898; and as regards the second half of this proposal, that the Canton-Kowloon Agreement is no longer the "last word" in the matter of railway loans. The Tien-tsin-P'u K'ou Agreement now forms the precedent to which the Chinese Government would appeal under such circumstances, and it will be evident to His Majesty's Government from my despatches on railway questions during the past year that the acquisition of a concession, as distinct from a purely financial operation for railway construction, is out of the question in China.
I am sending a copy of this despatch to the Government of India and His Majesty's Consul-General at Yunnan-fu.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
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