[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Governmen
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[2945]
No. 1.
408
5944
[January 23.]
RECE
SECTION 2. REGE 18 FEB 09
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received January 23, 1909.)
(No. 542.) Sir,
Peking, December 3, 1908. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 468 of the 8th October last, in which you point out that by section 3 of the Kiaochou Agreement of the 6th March, 1898, the Chinese Government undertook not to seek foreign assistance for the development of the Province of Shantung without previously inviting German assistance, and instruct me to furnish you with my views as to how far the scheme for a railway from Chefoo to Weihsien, put forward by the British firm of Messrs. Cornabé, Eckford, and Co., is compatible with this undertaking, which, notwith- standing the disclaimer of the Governor of Shantung, seems to you to be binding on the Chinese Government.
The Chinese text of the Kiaochou Convention is printed in a book of Treaties issued by the Wai-wu Pu, and corresponds with the English translation given in "Hertslet," Vol. 1, p. 353 (1908), except that "Hertslet" reproduces the error of the Blue-Book of 1899 by omitting the word "not" after the word "do" and the word "other" after the word "any.'
There can be no doubt, I think, that the section grants definite preferential rights to Germans, and constitutes a binding engagement upon the Chinese Government. am inclined to think, however, that if the British terms are more favourable to the Chinese than those offered by the Germans, the authorities of the latter are not likely, in the present state of Chinese public opinion, to insist upon the strict fulfilment of this provision of their Agreement with China. The project appears to be a purely inercantile one, and the promoters would probably find means of showing their resentment if they were obliged to give Germans the first refusal before seeking assistance elsewhere. On the other hand, it would scarcely, I conceive, be politie for us to give the British firm our official support in securing the contract should the negotiations ever enter upon a serious stage, of which there seems to be little prospect at present.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
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