[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
[B]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[August 13.]
SECTION 2.
[30464]
No. 1.
Lord Li Ching-fong to Sir Edward Grey.~(Received August 13.)
THE Chinese Minister presents his compliments to His Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honour, in accordance with instructions, to enclose a copy of a telegram he has received from the Wai-wu Pu, referring to a discussion which has taken place between the Chinese and Japanese Governments on the subject of the Antung-Moukden Railway.
Chinese Legation, August 12, 1909.
(Translation.)
(Telegraphic.)
Inclosure in No. 1.
Wai-wu Pu to Lord Li Ching-fong.
ANTUNG-MOUKDEN Railway.
In the month of December 1905 it was agreed by the plenipotentiaries of China and Japan that the military railway between Moukden and Antung should be converted into a commercial line, and that the latter Power should undertake the work; but in the treaty recording the agreement it was stated distinctly that after the lapse of fifteen years the Chinese Government should have the right to buy back the railway. It was also stipulated that the work of reconstruction should be begun within two years, and that the details of the method of improved construction should be considered and settled by officials to be deputed by the two Governments for that purpose.
It was further stipulated that the Chinese Government should appoint an official to examine and superintend the work. Disregarding the stipulations of the agree ment, Japan allowed the period of time for commencing the work to lapse and did not bring up the question till the spring of this present year, when the Chinese Government, though the time limited had lapsed, in view of the importance they attached to the maintenance of good relations between the two countries, consented to discuss with Japan the questions contemplated in the treaty.
Commissioners were accordingly at once appointed by the Board of Communications to make the necessary survey of the line conjointly with commissioners to be appointed by Japan, but what the actual procedure should be was left to be discussed and settled between the Viceroy of Manchuria and the Japanese Consul-General at Moukden.
By repeated delays and procrastination the Japanese consul-general has persistently avoided meeting the request made by the Chinese Government for the simultaneous settlement of the two following questions :-
1. That Japan shall not station military guards along the railway line;
and
2. That the policing of the line shall be undertaken by China herself.
As a consequence of this delay the discussion of the question had been protracted over several months without any decision being arrived at; when suddenly, on the 6th instant, the Japanese Minister presented a note to the Chinese Department of Foreign Affairs stating that as the Chinese Government had purposely procrastinated in arriving at a settlement of this question the Japanese Government would proceed with the work of improving the line without waiting for the co-operation of the Chinese Government. To this note the Chinese Government immediately replied to the following effect.
Although the Chinese Government does not admit that it is essential to broaden the gauge of the railway in order to fit it better for commercial traffic, still, as the Japanese Government lays great stress upon the necessity for a broader gauge and
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