[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[38787]
No. 1.
483
[November 7.]
SECTION 2.
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1
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Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received November 7.)
(No. 441. Confidential.) Sir,
Peking, October 5, 1908. ON receipt of your despatch No. 277 of the 13th June, regarding a proposal for the annexation of the Atol of Pratas near Hong Kong, I made inquiries of the Governor of Hong Kong, the Naval Commander-in-chief, and His Majesty's Consular Representatives at Canton and Swatow, in the dispatch of which I have the honour to inclose a copy, requesting such information on the subject of this island as they might be able to obtain.
The Governor of Hong Kong furnished me in reply with a copy of his secret despatch of the 23rd July to the Colonial Office, of which a copy has doubtless been communicated to you.
Vice-Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton stated that nothing appeared in his records on this subject since the correspondence of 1902. As a wireless telegraph station the island would be valuable to Hong Kong, for the purpose of signalling typhoons, but it was not considered of any practical value in the event of war. The reply of His Majesty's Acting Consul-General at Canton, of which I have the honour to inclose a copy, affords a complete answer to the question whether the island is claimed by China. In reply to a private letter addressed by Mr. Fox to the Viceroy's Secretary, the latter answered semi-officially that "there is no doubt as to its status as a Chinese island."
Mr. Fox also has drawn attention to correspondence which passed between the Consulate and the Viceroy as far back as 1869, when the Chinese authorities were asked by us to take steps to prevent the pillage of wrecks on the island; the request being based on Article 20 of the Treaty of Tien-tsin, thereby virtually recognizing the shoal as a Chinese possession. In his reply to this request, the Viceroy of Canton went so far as to specify the authority on the mainland under whose jurisdiction the island lay. Copies of this correspondence are inclosed herewith.
There can be no doubt, therefore, that China would have ample grounds for claiming the shoal if she desired to do so.
His Majesty's Acting Consul-General at Canton apparently misconstrued the object of the inquiries addressed to him, and I have pointed out to Mr. Fox that it would have been wiser not to have applied to the Chinese authorities, at all events in writing, for information which had been called for in a despatch marked "Confidential."
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to the Admiral, China Station, the Governor of Hong Kong, and His Majesty's Consuls at Canton and Swatow. (Confidential.)
Sir,
Peking, August 16, 1908.
I HAVE received a despatch from His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs respecting a proposal made by two British subjects, Messrs. Harry Kendall Carse Newman and Langton Wilkinson, to the effect that His Majesty's Government should annex the islet of Pratas in the China Seas,
This islet, which is situated about 170 miles due south-east of Hong Kong, in latitude 20° 42' 3" north and longitude 116° 43′ 14" cast of Greenwich, would appear never to have been formally occupied by, or claimed as forming part of the posses- sions of any Power, but from the voluminous correspondence inclosed in Sir E. Grey's despatch above-mentioned, there would seem to be indications that, although the
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