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513 20427
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Rece18 JUN 09
[April 2.]
SECTION 2.
¦
(12558)
(No. 73.)
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 2.)
(Telegraphic.) P.
Peking, April 2, 1909. I SPOKE to his Excellency Liang yesterday on the subject of the undertaking of, 1903 mentioned in your telegram No. 60.
said that Chang's conduct in disregarding, with regard to the Hankow-Canton Railway, his undertakings to us, had produced a very bad impression. I pointed out the unwisdom of doing anything calculated to accentuate the impression, and warned Liang that, if Chang was allowed to violate the 1903 undertaking, His Majesty's Government would hold the Chinese Government responsible.
After characterizing the whole business as most unfortunate, Liang said that he would communicate with Chang at once. He enquired whether tenders, on the basis of Tien-tsin-Pukow terms for the Hupei section of the line from Hankow to Ichang, could be expected from any British firms.
I replied to this that all we had wanted Chang to give us was a guarantee that the loan funds would be expended properly. The necessity for such a guarantee had been demonstrated by our experience in the case of the Shanghai-Ningpo Railway which imposed on us the duty of obtaining it.
In my opinion one of the factors which makes the Chinese hesitate to conclude the agreement with the Germans is that they feel considerable uneasiness as to what our attitude will be.
(Confidential)
What makes it difficult to deal with Chang is the fact that since Yuan's disgrace the Government has no directing head. Liang admitted so much to me.
[2241 b--2]
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