CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911 — Page 132

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

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[44725]

C O

621

[December 10.]

SECTION 2.

Rear 7 JAN II No. 1.

Acting Consul Rose to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 10.)

(No. 18. Confidential.) Sir,

Tengyueh, Upper Burmah, October 25, 1910.

I HAVE the honour to enclose duplicate of an intelligence report which I have to-day addressed to His Majesty's Minister at Peking, dealing with recent events on the Burmah-China frontier.

Enclosure in No. 1.

I have, &c.

ARCHIBALD ROSE.

Intelligence Report by Acting Consul Rose respecting the Burmah-China Frontier for the period from April 1 to the commencement of open season, 1910.

(Confidential.)

Political.

THE past few months have been marked by a series of disturbances extending along the whole stretch of the Burmah-China frontier. The various incidents have been reported in separate despatches, but it may be well to recapitulate them briefly in this report.

Chungtien Rebellion.-In the North-Western or Thibetan corner of Yunnan a band of deserters from the Szechuan army have entered the province, sacked the little town of Chungtien, and taken to the hills north of the great Yang-tsze bend. Their presence has caused much alarm to the Chinese authorities, and over 500 troops have advanced to resist them, thus disorganising the garrisons of the whole district. Although the military operations appear to have been carried out in a very haphazard way, the simple expedient of defending the three ferries along an otherwise uncrossable river having been overlooked for some time, the rebels are reported to have been defeated and to have scattered. The regular troops have not yet been recalled, but there is, I think, little probability of the trouble spreading. The only British subject concerned is Mr. G. Forrest, who is collecting botanical specimens near Likiang. I instructed him to take refuge in the city on hearing the first news of the disturbance, and his camp was occupied shortly after his departure by some stragglers from the rebels, who had managed to cross the A-hsi ferry. Two of the men were captured and butchered in the streets of Likiang.

Southern Shan States.-The Chinese have shown unusual activity during the present year throughout the Shan States, and especially in the south-western corner of the province, which is wedged in between Burmah and Tonquin, and is known as the "Sip Song Panoa," or twelve Shan States, a district which for many years has been the haunt of Yunnanese cattle thieves and fugitives from justice. During the spring the Yunnan Government took the opportunity of trouble amongst the local sawbwas to send an expedition to the country, and the Chinese have maintained their position throughout the summer in spite of the malaria from which they have suffered severely during their campaign in these low-lying valleys. A number of Shan refugees, estimated at 1,500, have crossed the frontier and taken refuge in the British Shan States. The chiefs of the States of Mongse and Mong ngat are reported to have been killed by the soldiers, and it is clear that the Chinese have established their authority in this corner of the province, and that the internal affairs of the Sip Song Panna are likely in consequence to be more orderly than they have been in the past.

Changta and Kangai. The two States of Changta and Kangal are a constant thorn in the side of the Chinese, and there seems every probability that they will be

[1810 k-2]

B

130