ご
31859
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
REC
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Pro 25 SEP 09
[September 2.]
ANG
SECTION 2.
[33307]
No. 1.
Question asked in the House of Commons, September 2, 1909.
Mr. Ginnell,-To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the British Government had any other object in lending 1,100,000l. to the Chinese Government to buy back the concession for the Hankow-Canton Railway except that, on account of its proximity to the British Colony of Hong Kong, it was considered desirable that it should be controlled by British subjects; what steps, if any, were taken between 1905 and the spring of the present year to promote that object by securing for British interests the control of this railway; whether, in order to recover the Hankow-Canton Railway, the British and French groups were compelled to allow German financiers to participate in the Szechuan Railway; and, if so, who was mainly responsible for this change.
Answer.
It is substantially the case that in lending China the sum of 1,100,000/. in 1905 His Majesty's Government were actuated by the wish to obtain control over the Hankow-Canton Railway. Negotiations proceeded continuously from that year until the spring of 1909, when, as the hon. Member was informed on the 30th ultimo, a German group of financiers offered the Chinese terms which they considered more advantageous than those the British group was prepared to offer, or than the British Government could have approved, and which the Chinese Government accepted. The subsequent negotiations resulted in a compromise, the object of which was to secure more control and avoid competition.
[2413 b-2]
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