This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government;]
[B]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
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Rece Ree 18, MAR 10 [February 28
429
CONFIDENTIAL.
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(No. 47.) Sir,
No. 1.
SECTION 4.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received February 28.)
AS I had the honour to inform you in my telegram No. 24 of the 8th instant,
Peking, February 11, 1910. I had an interview with Liang Tun-yen on that day at the Wai-wu Pu, and delivered to him your message in regard to the Chinchow-Aigun railway negotiations, as instructed in your telegram No. 23 of the 5th instant. I apologised for troubling his Excellency during the new year holidays, but excused myself for doing so on the ground that the negotiations for a final agreement were, I understood, being actively pushed forward. I reminded his Excellency of the attitude of His Majesty's Government in regard to Japanese participation in the line, and explained that now that the project had been extended to include a line from Tsitsihar to Aigua, His Majesty's Government held that the Russian Government should also be consulted, and their participation, if they so desired, arranged for in any agreement for the construction of the line. I warned his Excellency that it was impossible for the Chinese Government to ignore the interests of the Japanese and Russian Governments in the proposed line, or to attempt to conclude a final agreement without previously consulting them. At his Excellency's request I handed him a paraphrase of the last sentence of the com- munication I was instructed to make, and as he inquired whether the communication was made at the request of the Russian Government, 1 said that it was made in the interests of China herself in order to prevent her plunging into unnecessary com plications, adding that the fact that a British company was interested in the construction of the line was a proof of our disinterestedness. Liang Tun-yen said that the Russian and Japanese Ministers had conveyed to him the desire of their respective Governments to be consulted before a final agreement was signed, and that he had replied that the Chinese Government were prepared to consider in a friendly spirit any proposals for participation in the scheme put forward by their Governments. No sach proposals had, however, been made either by Russia or Japan, and he pointed out that in the end this delay would be equivalent to blocking the whole scheme. The delay, considering the importance of the interests at stake, does not appear to me unduly protracted, but Liang Tun-yen gave me the impression that the Chinese Government would be grateful for anything you might be able to do to expedite the formulating of proposals from Russia and Japan.
I duly informed the American chargé d'affaires of the representation 1 had made, which has, I may add, been published by Reuter's Agency here, as a telegram from Peking to St. Petersburgh repeated back here.
M. de Margerie, the French Minister, informs me that he has been instructed to address a similar warning to the Chinese Government.
In regard to the claim of the right of the British and Chinese Corporation to finance the Chinchow-Aigun line, which formed the subject of your telegram No. 14 of the 24th January, and my telegram No. 15 of the 27th January, Mr. Hillier informs me that Mr. Straight has received a reply from his principals in New York that the question of participation in the Chinchow-Aigun railway loan is one for adjustment between the Governments concerned, and that banks desirous of par- ticipating should first address their own Governments. Mr. Hillier is therefore taking
no further action in the matter.
I have, &c. (For Sir John Jordan),
W. G. MAX MÜLLER,
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