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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
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9050
[B]
OHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[7347]
No. 1.
DE 4 APR 10! [February 28.]
SECTION 6.
Question asked in the House of Commons, February 28, 1910.
Sir William Bull, To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether His Majesty's Government are aware that the proposed construction by China of an important railway in Western Manchuria and Eastern Mongolia cannot be proceeded with, chiefly owing to the attitude of Japan, who, after a period of protracted delay, has submitted proposals which cannot possibly be accepted; and, seeing that the nearest point of this proposed railway cannot be less than 150 miles, whether His Majesty's Government is prepared to admit Japan's claim to be consulted as of right; and, if so, in what manner can such an attitude be reconciled with the existing treaty obligations of both Japan and Great Britain regarding Manchuria.
Answer by Mr. McKinnon Wood (for Sir Edward Grey).
It was
In the case of the line referred to in the hon. Member's question, the Japanese Government expressed their readiness not to oppose the proposed railway, provided that they were admitted to participation in it as some compensation for the injury the line might inflict on their own railway. They have now, I understand, defined their demands; I am not aware that there is anything inherently unreasonable in these, and it is for the Chinese Government to decide, in the first instance, whether the conditions of the Japanese Government are acceptable or not. The original scheme for the railway in question was from Chinchow to Taonan-fu. subsequently extended to Tsitsihar, on the Siberian Railway, and finally to Aigun, on the River Amur. The Russian Government have now intimated both to His Majesty's Government and to China that on economic, strategical, and political grounds they, as well as Japan, are interested in the question. This contention is obviously a reasonable one, seeing that Aigun is on the Russian frontier, and that the line would actually cross the existing Russian railway, and the matter is therefore one for arrangement between Russia, China, and Japan.
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