[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
[3950]
C.O. 12195
[January 29.]
SECTION 2.
No. 1.
RECE REG 2 APR OC
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received January 29.)
(No. 35.) (Telegraphic.) P.
Peking, Junuary 29, 1909. MACAO. The Chinese Minister in Lisbon has telegraphed to his Government the terms of the proposed Arrangement, on the lines laid down in your telegram No. 23 of the 27th instant, with the exception that no explicit mention is made of the evacuation of all posts occupied by either China or Portugal since the Treaty of 1887. The Ministers of the Wai-wn Pu, however, to whom I communicated the substance of your telegram, recognize that such evacuation is implied in the provision for the restoration of the status quo. The telegram which they had received further stated that the appointment of High Commissioners was to be followed by the withdrawal on the part of China "without prejudice" of all her military posts, while Portugal, besides countermanding the cruisers' departure for Macao waters, would put a stop both to the levy of taxes and to the dredging operations which the Macao authorities had been carrying out within the disputed zone.
The Ministers who received me declared their hope to let me have a favourable answer in the course of the next few days, and added that they gratefully appreciated the assistance they had received from His Majesty's Government. Meanwhile, they said, the proposed Arrangement had been laid before the Cabinet.
I understand that the appointment of their High Commissioner is giving them some difficulty, and that they are not finding the choice of a suitable official au easy
task.
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