[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[42500]
No. 1.
337
5712
[November 22.1CP
21 FEB 1!
SECTION 3.
India Office to Foreign Office.-(Received November 22.)
THE Under-Secretary of State for India presents his compliments to the Under- Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and, by direction of the Earl of Crewe, forwards herewith, for the information of the Secretary of State, copy of enclosures in a letter from the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, dated the 3rd November, 1910, relative to the proposed expedition to Pienma on the Burmah-China frontier.
India Office, November 21, 1910.
(Confidential.)
Sir,
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Government of Burmah to Government of India.
Maymyo, October 17, 1910. I AM directed to solicit a reference to my telegram dated the 6th October, 1910, in which the Lieutenant-Governor proposed certain revised arrangements in connection with the proposed dispatch of an expedition into the unadministered territory north- east of the Myitkyina district.
2. In proposing to alter the arrangements which were sanctioned in your letter dated the 12th September, 1910, the Lieutenant-Governor was mainly influenced by a report received from Captain B. E. A. Pritchard, I. A., commandant of the Northern Shan States Battalion of Military Police, who has recently had an opportunity of inspecting the Chinese troops at Tengyueh, Talifu, and Yunnanfu. am now to submit a copy of Captain Pritchard's report* for the information of the Government of India. The main features of the report, so far as this case is concerned, are that the Chinese forces in the Tengyuel command (ie., the old troops or Hsu Fang Tui) are a well armed and effective body of trained soldiers who would probably give a good account of themselves when fighting in the jungle; that the new troops (the Lu Chun) at Talifu, 1,512 in number, are even more efficient; and that there is a likelihood that some at least of these new troops are to be sent from Talifu to Tengyueh at the close of the present rainy season. Captain Pritchard was the bearer of a verbal message to the Lieutenant-Governor from the Viceroy himself, who remarked that he desired peace with Burmah, and that he intended to send new troops to the Burmah frontier. The Viceroy's intention may be peaceful, but if the new troops were sent into the unadministered territory which the Chinese claim as theirs, there would be a risk of collision. Captain Pritchard's description of the Chinese soldiers in Yünaan is not inconsistent with that contained in Mr. Rose's memorandum on military affairs, of which a copy was submitted with my letter dated the 14th June, 1910, but Captain Pritchard's report emphasises the fact that all the troops in Yünnan are now trained soldiers who must not be despised, and that the Chinese will have it in their power, if they so desire, to offer effective opposition to Mr. Hertz's operations. It has been ascertained from Mr. Rose that the Chinese at Tengyueh are aware of our intention to send an expedition into the unadministered territory.
3. The Lieutenant-Governor does not suggest that the Chinese will in fact oppose Mr. Hertz's march, or that they will dispatch their regular troops to attack his escort in the unadministered territory; but it must be admitted that we have no certain knowledge of the Chinese intentions, and that any anticipation of the action which they will take when they see that our occupation is about to become an accomplished fact, is based on no very substantial grounds. Mr. Rose, in his above-cited memorandum, expressed the opinion that the Chinese would be unlikely to move ap regular troops to the unadministered territory, and he has recently suggested that Mr. Hertz is likely to meet only the taotai himself, with a personal escort. Mr. Rose
* Not printed.
[2982 y-3]
B