£
6
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
TABLE showing British and United States Trade with China, 1900–1909.
(In millions of taeis.)
492
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[November 17.]
SECTION 3.
Total British Trade.
Year.
Imports.
Exports.
Total United States Trade.
Total Foreign Trade.
Including Excluding Hong Kong, | Hong Kong.
191
ឌ្ឍន
1900
144
31
370
240
82
1901
164
40
438
283
91
1902
25
55
529
330
114
45
541
331
105
1903
27
56
583
346
118
1904
1905
27
104
675
383
154
1906
26
70
647
$68
140
1907
26
63
681
391
138
65
671
374
132
1908
1909
82
65
757
395
148
Note. The above figures, taken from the Annual Returns published by the Imperial Maritime Customs, do not bear out the statements made by the director. general of the Nanking Exhibition at the banquet to the delegates on the 25th September, to the effect that " American trade with China has quadrupled during the last nine years.”
O
[41905]
No. 1.
Mr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey-(Received November 17.)
(No. 386.) Sir,
Peking, October 28, 1910. I REGRET that, as I reported in my telegram No. 174 of the 25th instant, I have been unable to obtain any definite information as to the proposals for a loan alleged to have been made by the Board of Finance to the American Minister, though I have little doubt that negotiations for some such loan are proceeding. Mr. Calhoun has lately been very uncommunicative, so I hesitated to apply to him for information, but 1 ascertained indirectly that the American Legation had been approached in regard to a large loan to the Chinese Government, though I was unable to obtain any details as to the amount, conditions, or purpose of the loan. Exactly what reception these proposals met with at the hands of Mr. Calhoun I am unable to ascertain, but he bas recently stated in conversation that in his opinion neither the American nor the European markets would doat a large loan for China without adequate guarantees, and possibly also without some form of control not only over the sources of revenue assigned to its redemption and the payment of interest, but also over the expenditure of the proceeds. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the details telegraphed by Mr. Hillier to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London. Mr. Hillier, who had not previously communicated his intelligence to any member of this legation, has since told me that he learnt from an apparently trustworthy source that a meeting was held at the American Legation on Thursday, the 20th October, at which Duke Tsai Tse, President of the Board of Finance; Sheng Kung-pao, Vice-President of the Board of Communications; and the Americau Minister were present for the purpose of discussing a Chinese Government Joan for 80,000,000 taels, roughly 10,000,000!.. interest 5 per cent., and duration forty-six years, the ostensible object being the introduction of the new currency.
Whatever the attitude of the American Legation may be towards this scheme, the fact that proposals for a large loan were made, or at all events are being considered by the Board of Finance, is corroborated by the refusal of that board to ratify an agreement for a 10,000,000 dollar loan recently signed at Mukden between the Viceroy of Manchuria and a Mr. Cloud, representing the Hawley-Macey group of New York, on the ground that the Board of Finance would be able to provide the funds required by the Viceroy out of a larger loan that they were negotiating with American financiers. It is also significant that Mr. Straight, who recently wrote to me that he did not know when he would be back in China, is now reported to be returning to Peking in a fortnight.
Onc
During the past two months the air has been full of rumours in regard to large loans about to be contracted abroad, the sums mentioned running up to 100,000,000)., but it appeared to me useless to report one day what I should be obliged to contradict the next. Mr. Hillier tells me that it would be impossible for the New York market to float a loan of 10,000,0001. without offering equal shares to the British, French, and German groups, but still it is evident that the United States Legation would gain considerably in prestige if the loan were arranged solely through them and participa- tion therein offered by the American group to the three European banks. thing, however, would appear to be certain even in this land of the unexpected, and that is, that if China is really going to carry out the various reforms of which the native press is now so full, army, navy, currency, education, judiciary, &c., she will have to have recourse to a large foreign loan, and it is to be hoped for her own sake that in order to secure it she will be forced to put her financial house in order under foreign supervision and control. The necessity for such a step would to the foreign observer appear to be emphasised by the large annual deficit disclosed in the first budget for the Empire laid before the Senate by Duke Tsai Tse, the Minister of Finance, on the 26th instant. The urgent need for money lelt not only in the various Government departments in Peking, but in many of the provinces of the Empire is shown by the numerous schemes for small internal and provincial loans which have been brought to my notice, either indirectly through the press or directly by persons interested in
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