CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 35

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thousands of Mongols and made them dependent on Russian money, has now taken another route; and Kiachta itself is a town of the past. On the other hand, the Chinese have now established the first automobile connection through the Gobi between Urga and Kalgan, from where the newly built railway goes to Peking; they will also build with English material a railway from Hsinmintun to Fakumen and probably farther to Mergen. The emigrants that Russia can oppose to the yellow men in these distant provinces can be easily surpassed many times over and at a very slight cost by the Chinese. The colonization of the Selenga Valley on the frontier near Kiachta, which is assisted by the Governor-General of Irkutsk, will only have the effect of a subsequent defensive measure.

For the comprehension of Chinese politics such events, which generally take place in districts from which reliable news seldom penetrate to the Occident, are not without importance. The strengthening of the great Empire, in the interior and in her colonial districts, increases the zeal of the Chinese diplomats to do all they can to secure the cancellation of certain Treaties that are distasteful to the growing Chinese national feeling.

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

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[11062]

33

[March 18.]

C.0. 12195

SECTION 2.

IREC

No. Rec 2 APR OC

Question asked in the House of Commons, March 18, 1909.

Mr. Samuel Roberts,-To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has His Majesty's Government received official notification of an Agreement between China and Germany providing for the loan to China of 3,000,000l. for the purpose of constructing the Hankow-Canton Railway; did China undertake to give Great Britain the right to subscribe the loan on terms equally advantageous to any offer she might receive from foreign countries; and, if so, bas China complied with the conditions of the Agreement ?

Answer.

I have nothing to add to the answer given to the hon. Member for Mid-Armagh on the 15th instant, to the effect that negotiations with regard to the loan for this railway are still proceeding, and meanwhile I think it is better not to make any statement on the subject

[2194 s--2]