ams Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[100249]
CO 42712
[July 9.]
446
RECP
SECTION 1.
Per-22 1 19
No. 1.
(No. 180.) My Lord,
Sir J. Jordan to Earl Curzon.-(Received July 9.)
Peking, May 5, 1919. ON receipt of your Lordship's telegram No. 183 of the 5th April, I had the honour to address to the Wai-chiao Pu a note, of which a copy is enclosed, expressing the appreciation of His Majesty's Government at the action of the Chinese Government in destroying the opium stocks remaining in China.
At the same time I took the opportunity to remind the Foreign Minister that information continued to reach me from a number of provinces to the effect that the recrudescence of poppy cultivation was apparent in a number of provinces, and that such cultivation, following upon the total cessation of the import of Indian opium, constituted a grave infringement of the solemn pledges entered into by the Chinese Government.
Since the despatch of that note, I have received from the Wai-chiao Pu the enclosed reply to my note of the 29th March,* a copy of which I had the honour to transmit to your Lordship in my despatch No. 127 of the 31st March. It will be observed that the Chinese Government admit the spread of cultivation in the province of Shensi, but state that a policy of suppression is being introduced pari passu with the suppression of internal disorder.
It is unfortunate that little evidence is forthcoming as to the pacification of the province in question, and the Military Governor is still pursuing a policy of open defiance to the authority of the Central Government, whilst the condition of his province is a growing menace to the peace of the country.
*
At the same time I have the honour to enclose for your Lordship's information copy of a statement which has been handed by the Japanese Minister to the secretary of the International Anti-Opium League at Peking, for publication in the local press,"
The Japanese Government have taken this opportunity to announce once more their willingness to prohibit the exportation of opium to China, provided that the Chinese Government will formulate regulations for the supervision of importation. They have shown good faith at the recent Tariff Conference in consenting to the inclusion of opium in the list of prohibited imports, and the statement shows that they have inaugurated measures for the probibition, under penalty, of the opium trade by their subjects in China, and for the control of the opium tariff through the Japanese post offices They have also undertaken to abolish the opium administration in Tsing-tao, and in the leased territory of Kwantung, and to consider the introduction of a similar system in Formosa. They have further issued additional instructions to their consular officers for the strict enforcement of measures for the control of the importation, manufacture, and sale of morphia and cocaine by Japanese subjects in China.
I have, &c.
Enclosure in No. 1.
J. N. JORDAN.
Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Wai-chiao Pu.
ON receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 9th December, in which
Peking, April 29, 1919. communicated to me the intention of the Chinese Government to destroy the stocks you of opium held at Shanghai, I did not fail to inform my Government of the momentous step which had been taken towards eradicating the opium evil in China. I now have the honour to inform your Excellency that I have received instructions to convey to you an expression of His Majesty's Government's grateful recognition of the great
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