CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904 — Page 90

ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا مو حالاتو او اليد الميتشير إلى رو اور اسے کہا جاتا ہے اور ان کی روانی ہے

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any territory on the west side of the watershed until twenty-one months after it had first been proposed to them as a boundary, and seventeen months after they had been distinctly warned of the danger of sending troops across it, thus by their silence leaving the Indian Government to infer that they accepted the proposal made in July 1898. The excuse that the 'maikha Valley is remote from Yunnan-fu, with which place Feking was in telegraphic communication, is without validity, as Mien-kawng-ai is only a week's journey from Teng-yüeh, and the latter also was connected with Yunnan-fu by telegraph.

With regard to the Hpare affair, our justification is complete, for the Sub-Prefect of Teng,yüeh had a full month's notice of the intended dispatch of the exploring party, and there cannot be much doubt that it was by instructions from him that the armed bodies of Chinese crossed the watershed and marched against the exploring party.

I have the honour to inclose a Memorandum of the discussion which, in accordance with previous arrangement, I held on the 1st instant with his Excellency Na-t'ung on the question, in the course of which adduced reasons for which it was desirable that the Chinese Government should give an undertaking not to send troops across the watershed. I intimated also that if they declined, it would be my duty to make them an official declaration in the terms of ny instructions.

Na-t'ung replied that this was a question that could not be decided at Peking, and must be referred to the Governor-General of Yünnan. I said that I could not accept a reference to Yönnan, which would result in the same sort of delays of which His Majesty's Government bad already had so much experience, and that I must either arrange the matter with the Foreign Board amicably or fall back upon my instructions, which were precise. I said that if the Chinese Government would give the desired undertaking in writing, I would move the Indian Government to consent to a Joint Commission for the purpose of inquiring into the alleged claim of China to Tzu-chu and Hpare, it being understood that an official from Peking would have to be deputed to act together with a Representative of the Yunnan Governinent. But I could not give an undertaking that British troops would not be sent into the N'maikha Valley, though I had good grounds for personally believing that the Indian Government had no such intention, It was agreed that he should acquaint Prince Ching with the conversation that had taken place, and that we should meet again in a few days.

I had the honour to acquaint your Lordship briefly by telegraph on the 2nd instant with the step that I had taken and what I understood to be the Chinese view of the question.

A copy of this despatch is being forwarded to the Government of India.

I have, &c. (Signed)

Inclosure in No. 1.

ERNEST SATOW.

Memorandum respecting the Burmah-Yünnan Boundary.

SIR ERNEST SATOW, accompanied by Messrs. Cockburn and Wilkinson, called on his Excellency Na-t'ung at the Wai-wu Pu.

Mr. Ku was also present at the interview.

Sir Ernest said that his Excellency would recollect that at their last interview he had also referred to the Burmah-Yunnan Boundary question, and had asked his Excellency to look up the previous correspondence and the maps on the subject. He had brought a map with him which would make the position clear.

(Sir Ernest here produced the map of " Burmah and Adjacent Countries, 1901," with the watershed boundary marked in pencil.)

The history of the negotiations was as follows :-

Two Conventions, one in 1894 and one in 1897, had been made with special reference to the boundary question, and since then they had been trying to mark out the boundary. One portion had been delimited with the exception of a section south of Mengting. It was not, however, about this section that he wished to talk, but about the northern portion of the boundary, the demarcation of which was left in the Treaty for subsequent negotiation. Article IV of the Burmah Convention, 1894, read as follows:-

"It is agreed that the settlement and delimitation of that portion of the frontier which lies to the north of latitude 25° 35' north shall be reserved for a future under-

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standing between the High Contracting Parties when the features and conditions of the country are more accurately known."

(Sir Ernest then explained to his Excellency the position on the map, pointing out that the N'aikha is the main source of the Irrawaddy, and its valley a natural continuation of the province of Burmah.)

Na-tung remarked that all the Chinese maps relating to the boundary question had been destroyed during the Boxer troubles.

Sir Ernest, continuing, said that it was implied in Article IV of the Bourtlary Con- vention that neither party was to take advantage of the other to strengthen its position, but in January 1898 a Chinese official with 200 troops had entered the territory north of the Myitkina district. Sir Claude asked, therefore, that orders should be sent to Yunnan to cease all attempts to exercise Chinese authority in the districts on the west of the range of mountains forming the watershed between the Salween and the N'maikha. This proposal was made over five years ago. Beyond acknowledging the note, the Yamên made no reply.

In November Sir Claude again addressed the Tsung-li Yamên, inquiring if orders had been sent to Yunnan, and pointing out the suitability, from every point of view, of the boundary suggested by him. He added that if Chinese troops crossed it they would come into collision with ours. As a mere acknowledgment of receipt was returned to this note, it was naturally assumed that China had no objection to the proposed frontier. In 1999 there was no correspondence on the subject.

In January 1900 nolice was given to the Teng-yüeh Prefect by the Deputy Com- missioner of Myitkina that an exploring party was to be sent from Burmah to visit the eastern portion of the N'maikha Valley, and asking that the people on the east side of the watershed might be told not to be alarmed,

On arrival, however, at Pailai (Hpare) the party found a detachment, several hundred strong, of Chinese troops intrenched who had been specially sent across the border to oppose them. A fight ensued, in which there were several casualties on both sides; the Chinese troops were driven back and their stockades burnt. Four days previously two members of the Boundary Commission who were engaged in demarcating the frontier further south had been killed, and a British Consular officer, Mr. Litton, seriously wounded.

Sir Claude at once protested against the action of the Chinese Government in sending troops to oppose the exploring party, although informed of its peaceable nature, and asked not to send troops across the boundary. Then, on the 25th March, 1900, some twenty months after Sir Claude's proposal that the watershed should be the provisional boundary, the Yamên replied, putting forward the pretension that China exercised control up to the bank of the Nimaikha River, and refusing to accept the frontier suggested by Sir Claude.

Na-t'ung explained that Yünnan was a long way off, and no doubt the interval was spent in making inquiries.

Sir Ernest continued that, owing to the Boxer troubles and the pressure of other negotiations, it was only in September 1902 that he was able to return to the subject. He then wrote to the Wai-wn Pu again asking for the observance of the watershed as the boundary. As usual, the Yamen replied stating that they were calling for a report from Yunnan. Last March Mr. Townley also wrote to the Board pressing for an answer, for which His Majesty's Government was still waiting.

Na-tung said that, with regard to the Pailai and Meng Tum incidents, as both sides had suffered, no more need be said about them. The important thing was to settle the question as the Treaty laid down, otherwise there would be further trouble. What had Sir Ernest to propose?

Sir Ernest replied that the geographical and natural boundary was as stated in his note, the range forming the watershed between the M'maikha stream and the Taping, Shweli, and Salween Rivers.

Na-t'ung stated that the Yunnan Viceroy had reported that this range was 100 li within the present frontier. The country between the range and the N'maikha River was inhabited by native tribes whose Chiefs received their patents from China. It was impossible, therefore, for China to accept the range as the boundary, He would suggest, in view of the present friendly relations between the two countries, that both Governments depute thoroughly competent officers to delimit the frontier.

Sir Ernest feared that His Majesty's Government would not agree to this. Their other experience in this respect had been very unsatisfactory. Owing to the procrasti- nation of the Chinese authorities, who refused to be bound by the wording of the

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