CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 283

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

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AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

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CONFIDENTIAL.

[20818]

No. 1.

20141

(June 11

SECTION

Free JUL 10,

Acting Consul Rose to Sir Edward Grey.Received June 11.)

(No. 8. Confidential.) Sir,

Tengyueh, May 11, 1910.

I HAVE the honour to forward, for your information, copy of a despatch which I have to-day addressed to the Government of Burmah in connection with the reported activity of the Chinese in the province of Zayul, on the north-eastern frontier of India.

Enclosure in No. 1.

I have, &c.

ARCHIBALD ROSE.

Acting Consul Rose to Government of Burmah.

(Confidential.) Sir,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the

Tengyueh, May 11, 1910. 16th April on the subject of a reported expedition by Chinese troops into the Khamti country lying between the basin of the Upper Salween and the borders of Assam,

In reply, I have the honour to lay before you certain information which has been gathered from M. Gaston Peronne, a French gentleman who has recently visited Tengyueh. M. Peronne has travelled in Yünnan on several occasions during recent years for the purpose of collecting musk. He is well known to the people, thoroughly acquainted with the country, and his information may, I think, be accepted with confidence. His head-quarters during the past year have been at A-tun-tze, and since the date of his last visit he reports a striking change in the town, which is now the centre of activity for the Chinese along the northern section of the Yunnan frontier. It is within your knowledge that Chao Ehr-feng, the High Commissioner of the Thibetan frontier, has recently inaugurated a forward policy in Western Szechuan and Thibet, and it appears that one of his Excellency's agents is now stationed at A-tun-tze on special service in connection with the frontier. man of considerable intelligence and activity, and it is believed that he is charged He is reported to be a with pioneer work in connection with the proposed "third province"-comprising parts of Szechuan, Yünnan, and Thibet-in an endeavour to include territory as far south as the A-tun-tze district, which would strengthen the hold of the Chinese on the broad stretch of tribal lands dividing China from the sphere of British adminis- trative control. This officer left A-tun-tze with a considerable escort in the autumn of last year, and proceeded westwards across the Mekong and Salween Rivers to the "inner" country, where he remained for three months. On his return all enquiries were met with a courteous discretion, and no information could be gathered as to the limit of his journey or as to what had been accomplished in the unknown country west of the dividing range. He brought back, however, a number of valuable presents, including two large ivory tusks, and, remembering the inhospitable nature of the country found by Prince Henry of Orleans between the Salween and Khamti ("Du Tonkin aux Indes," p. 219), there seems little doubt that he penetrated at least as far as the valleys of the Khamti Shans. Since his return he has occupied himself with the construction of a road from A-tun-tze to Chamutong, and there are many evidences of the intention of the Chinese to push forward their influence in these regions, which were until the last few years entirely beyond the limits of their control. They are sparing no pains to restrict the influence of the Lamas, they are establishing schools at the larger centres, and they insist on a regular return of presents from the tribes-people, who include the Black Lisu, the Lutzu, and the Chiu-tzu, in addition to the actual Thibetan groups. M. Peronne informed me that he had certain and

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