CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 338

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This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.?

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[193]

No. 1.

336

[January 1, 1909.]

C. O. SECTION 1.

5085

RECO (REGS FEC 09

Memorandum communicated by Mr. Whitelaw Reid, January 1, 19093

FROM information received by the Department of State from the American Consul at Seoul, the Government at Washington is led to believe that the construction of a bridge across the Yalu River at Now Wiju (Antung) will be begun in April next under In undertaking this construction the the auspices of the Japanese Government. Japanese do not propose to provide a drawbridge, nor to build the bridge high enough to permit junks to pass without taking down their masts; and, if this be true, the bridge as finally constructed would seriously interfere with the navigation of the Yalu, as far as the junks are concerned.

The Japanese Government claim to have expended over 20,000,000 yen on the Corean side of the proposed bridge, though it is asserted that the major part of this sum has been expended in building three forts to defend the bridge. They seem to think, inasmuch as they propose to offer free wharf facilities adjoining their Antung Settlement, which is west down river from the Chinese city, the original Antung, that down-river junks might discharge their cargoes at that place and then transfer the goods to the up-river junks or to the Chinese town by carts or small freight tranı lines. In a practical sense this would have the effect of transferring Antung to the Japanese Settlement.

The American Consul states, upon information he thinks reliable, that this bridge should be completed within three years, and that within the same period the Autung- Mukden Railway will be reconstructed, so that when completed through trains will be operated on a standard-gauge railway line from Fusan to the connection of the Trans-Siberian Railway in Northern Manchuria. Thus, the gauge being the same on the Corean-Japanese-Manchurian lines as that of the principal Chinese railways, the practicability of Japanese inland transportation in China may be thought worthy of note in view of future possible eventualities.

Upon receiving this information the Secretary of State instructed the American Ambassador at Tokio to inquire whether the Japanese Government did propose to construct a closed bridge across the Yalu River at Antung, and at the same time to express the appreciation of the American Government at the assurance given by Baron Hayashi, when Japanese Minister at Peking, to Mr. Fletcher, the American Chargé d'Affaires at that capital, that the contemplated bridge would be of such a character as not to interfere with navigation, as the American Government would deplore the suggestion now advanced that the bridge should be closed, which would obstruct the passage of the Yalu by river craft above the Japanese Settlement at Antung.

Mr. Whitelaw Reid is therefore instructed, should the occasion arise, to inform Sir Edward Grey that the American Government would be gratified to learn that His Majesty's Ambassador at Tôkið and the British Minister at Peking had been instructed in a similar sense.

American Embussy, London, Fanuary 1, 1909.

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