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A notification of the Russian consulate-general, which appeared in the local Russian press on the 1st instant, extends the period for the payment of customs duties A few into the Russo-Chinese Bank for one month, dating from the 30th ultimo. days previously, the Russian newspapers published a telegram from the St. Petersburgh telegraph agency, to the effect that, China having consented to make concessions to Russian demands on important points, the Russian Government had agreed to continue the discussion of the detailed regulations. This report was confirmed by my Russian colleague, and it seems clear that the extension of the provisional arrangement regarding the duty payments has been made in the hope that a modus vivendi, which will at least tide over matters until the time comes next year for the revision of the 1858 and 1881 treaties, may be reached.
M. Poppé, so he told me, had no information as to the matters upon which the Chinese Government was prepared to accommodate itself to the Russian views, and from a well-informed source I learn that up to within the last few days no specific concessions had, in fact, been made. The Chinese Government had merely intimated to the Russian authorities that it would do its best to meet Russian requirements in all respects. The chief points of contention are as stated in previous despatches on the subject:--
Tonnage dues,
Duty free list,
Free frontier zoncs,
Exclusive navigation rights, and
The two-thirds duty scale.
The authorities in St. Petersburgh favour, I understand, the transfer of the negotiations regarding the detailed regulations to the Russian capital; but the chargé d'affaires in Peking is opposed to this course, and has the support of the Chinese. The idea exists that the only reason for a change of venue is to enable the central authorities in St. Petersburgh, who see that there is at last a prospect of a settlement, to obtain for themselves any recognition which may follow a successful termination of the somewhat protracted negotiations which have taken place on the spot.
I am now disposed to think that there can be little doubt that the possibility of Japanese claims under article 11 of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of the 22nd December, 1905, to which I had the honour to allude in my despatch No. 12, has indeed had its influence on the attitude hitherto assumed by China towards Russia's demands for preferential frontier treatment-more especially since, apart from Chientao, there is the question of the Yalu River and the Antung-Mukden Railway. It is also, perhaps, not unlikely that the reported new agreement, the text of which has not yet reached here, between Russia and Japan may have decided the Chinese Government that a conciliatory policy is now the wiser course.
I have, &c.
H. E. SLY.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.)
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[29667]
No. 1.
[August 15.126647
SECTION EC
REG 16 SEP 10)
Acting Consul Rose to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received August 15.)
(No. 11. Confidential.) Sir,
Tengyueh, July 9, 1910. WITH reference to my despatch No. 8 of the 11th May last on the subject of the activity of the Chinese in the Province of Zayul, on the north-eastern frontier of India, I have the honour to enclose copy of a despatch to the Government of Burmah and of a semi-official letter to His Majesty's chargé d'affaires at Peking, both of which are being dispatched to-day in confirmation of the rumours which reached this consulate a month ago.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
I have, &c.
ARCHIBALD ROSE.
Acting Consul Rose to the Government of Burmah.
(No. 84. Confidential.) Sir,
Tengyueh, July 9, 1910. WITH reference to my despatch No. 154 of the 11th May last, on the subject of an expedition conducted by an officer of the Yunnan Government into the Khamti country, lying between the basin of the Upper Salween and the borders of Assam, I have the honour to report that coufirmatory evidence of Chinese activity in this region has now been received from Père Mombeig, the French Father in charge of the "Missions étrangères" post at Wei-hsi on the Upper Mekong. He writes on the 18th June as follows:-
(Translation.)
፡፡
The Chinese are indeed showing great activity at present in the west of their Empire and in Thibet, and have evidently decided that the country of the Lamas must prove their most secure frontier towards the west. Up to the present they have nurtured a spirit of fanaticism in order to ward off any encroachment of foreign influence, but signs are not wanting that modern progress is gradually asserting itself, and that the Thibetans are becoming accustomed to the idea of European civilisation Hence the nervousness of and are losing to some extent their primitive barbarism. the mandarins, who are bent upon creating a Chinese province in this territory. During the past two years they have been occupied in constant military operations in the interior, and their action has exercised a depressing effect on the commerce of these vast regions. The rumours which have reached you in regard to Chinese activity are well founded, and I have ascertained that the Government of Yunnan sent a mandarin and an armed escort during the autumn of 1908 to explore the country lying to the west of the Salween. This deputy penetrated as far as the borders of Assam, into the country known by the Chinese as "Mou-ouang"; he was well received and distributed presents, though the journey into the interior and back to his post was attended with the greatest hardships-he travelled by the road, followed by Prince Henry of Orleans in 1898. A number of his men died of fatigue and sickness during the trying marchi.”
I have, &c.
ARCHIBALD ROSE.
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