2
(18186/14).
426
12047
Governor of Hongkong of April 3rd. to have been granted to
the French Syndicate appears to be the fulfilment of an under-
taking given by the Chinese Goverment to the French Gov-
ernment in 1898, that the French only should have the right
to construct all railways to the West River having Pakhoi as
their starting point.
I am to add that the allusion in Sir J. Jordan's tele-
gram to the 1896 agreement refers to the Anglo-French agree-
ment of January 15th, 1896, according to Article IV of which
the two countries agreed to endeavour to persuade the Chinese
Government to allow their nationals to share in concessions
which either might obtain in the Provinces of Yunnan and
Szechuan. As stated by Sir J. Jordan the French Government
have recently in connexion with certain negotiations now
proceeding, appeared to consider the agreement as obsolete,
but as Southern Yunnan is still regarded as being a French
sphere of interest, Sir J. Jordan evidently anticipates
possible objection from the French Government to a conces-
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sion