1
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government
C. O.
33552
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
RECE [REG? 12 OCT 09
[September 6.]
SECTION 1,
595
[33430]
(No. 239.)
No. 1.
Mr. Rumbold to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received September 6.)
Sir,
Tokyo, August 16, 1909. IN continuation of previous correspondence with regard to the Antung-Mukden Railway question, I have the honour to report that the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs stated, yesterday, that the Chinese Government had agreed to the widening of the track, reserving details, such as the policing of the line and the purchase of the necessary land, for future consideration. His Excellency did not think that there would be any further development of this question which, he allowed it to be inferred, was practically settled.
Mr. Ishii said that negotiations had not yet been resumed with regard to the Chientao boundary dispute. The Chinese contended that the Coreans in Chientao- who number many thousands--were subject to Chinese jurisdiction, whereas the Japanese Government maintained that they were amenable to Corean, ie., to Japanese courts. The Chinese Government appeared to attach great importance to this question, but there were other matters in dispute between the two countries which the Japanese Government considered equally important.
I have the honour to transmit to you an extract from a Chinese organ called the "National Review," apparently published in Shanghae, which has been reproduced in a portion of the Japanese press. The article purports to give the Chinese case-in the Antung-Mukden Railway dispute-as telegraphed to the Chinese Ministers abroad. When asked whether he had seen this article, Mr. Ishii replied in the affirmative, and said that he thought that it might have been inspired by the Chinese Government. If the communiqué was the genuine production of the Chinese Government, then the Japanese Government could prove, by documents in their possession, that the facts were not only distorted, but were, in many cases, quite false.
Mr. Ishii was evidently pleased with the version of the Antung-Mukden Railway dispute telegraphed by the "Times" correspondent at Peking. In regard to the theory advanced by the "Times," that a third party had egged on China to procrasti- nate, he remarked that when she followed this policy there was generally someone in the background to egg her on.
I have forwarded a copy of this despatch to His Majesty's Minister at Peking.
HORACE RUMBOLD.
I have, &c.
**
Inclosure in No. 1.
Newspaper Extract.
ALLEGED CHINESE COMMUNIQUÉ.
(From the "Jiji.")
THE weekly National Review," the Chinese organ in Shanghae, says the Chinese Government sent the following telegraphic despatch dated Peking, the 11th August, to all the Chinese Ministers abroad:-
In the eleventh moon of the 31st year of Kuanghsu (November 1905), the Chinese and Japanese plenipotentiaries agreed upon the conversion of the Antung- Mukden Railway from a military into a commercial line, and also that the line The treaty stipulates should be built and repaired by the Japanese Government. that the right to redeem the railway at the end of fifteen years should remain with the Chinese Government. It was also agreed that the work of reconstruction should
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