[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government? . O.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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No. 1.
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92
[December 28.c
SECTION 3.
JAN 03
(No. 513.) Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 28.)
Peking, November 11, 1908. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a Decree issued on the 30th ultimo, ordering the summary execution of two officers and awarding various punishments to several other officials in connection with the recent collision between Chinese and French troops on the Tonquin frontier.
The French Minister is not disposed to attach very serious importance to this step or to regard it as affording due reparation for the offence committed. He has no means of ascertaining whether the persons who have suffered were the real culprits, and thinks no useful purpose would be served by raising the question.
The question of the indemnity claimed by the Yunnan railway is now being considered by a Secretary of the Wai-wu Pu and M. Verondart, who served on the Commission of Inquiry in Yunnan, and has been since transferred to the Legation here. M. Verondart has produced evidence to show the nature of the damage which the line sustained during the recent troubles, and my French colleague seems to have some hope that the Chinese Government will eventually recognize the justice of compensating the Company.
The state of the negotiations with regard to the French claim to extend the Tai Yuan Fu railway to Hsian Fu, which has been preferred in connection with the Tonquin frontier incident, has already been recorded in my despatch No. 503 of the 7th November.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Extract from the "North China Daily News" of October 30, 1908,
Imperial Decree.
THE TONQUIN FRONTIER FRACAS.
IN Hsi Liang's (Viceroy of the Yun-Kuci Provinces) Memorial with reference to the fracas between Chinese and French soldiers on the other side of the frontiers, in Tonquin, which resulted in the loss of several French lives, he states that in the 5th moon of this year (June 1908), whilst our troops were pursuing a body of defeated anti- monarchists, the chase was pushed into French territory. Our soldiers, in ignorance that they had crossed over the frontier, came into conflict with French troops, and brought about a very serious affair between our respective countries. Although this was unpremeditated by our troops, their officers were guilty of making a mistake upon a mistake (ie., crossing into a friendly country and then coming into conflict with troops of a friendly Power). Our officers concerned were therefore guilty of faults which we cannot condone. Our sentence is that, leaving aside Major Yang Tsing-kuei, who has already been executed for fleeing from his post, Major Yu Huan-chang and Captain Wang Rai-jen, of the Yunnan forces (whose errors were extremely serious), shall be summarily executed, and that Lieutenants Wang Yu-tsai and Hsü Teh-kuei, of the same service, be imprisoned for five years, at the end of which period they are to be liberated. As for Chiang Wan-lung, a first lieutenant of the Kuangtung forces, and Pêng Kai-sheng, an ensign of the same service, they are to be forthwith cashiered, in addition to which Chiang Wan-lung is to be sent to work on the military post
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