(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] 483
AFFAIRS OF CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
[6073]
No. 1.
со
[February 18.]
SECTION 1.
Mr. Lew Yuk-Lin to Sir Edward Grey-(Received February 18.)
Your Excellency,
Chinese Legation, February 18, 1911.
I HAVE the honour to enclose a translation of a further telegram I have received from the Wai-wu Pu, on the subject of the Yunnan frontier question, in which my Government press for the withdrawal of the British troops from the disputed territory as a preliminary to the further discussion and settlement of the question,
As instructed, I would ask your Excellency kindly to inform me when I can conveniently call upon you in regard to this matter.
I have, &c.
LEW YUK-LIN.
(Translation.)
(Telegraphic.)
Enclosure in No. 1.
Wai-wu Pu to Mr. Lew-Yuk Lin.
RE the Yunnan boundary question.
Your telegram of the 31st January has been received.
A reply to our despatch, in terms similar to those of your telegram, has also been received from the British Minister in Peking, saying nothing, however, about the withdrawal of their soldiers, but blaming us for proposing no satisfactory decision in the matter.
We have wired the Viceroy of Yunnan to consider the matter promptly and reply to us.
As this boundary question has been discussed for a long time without being settled, and as the map drawn by Mr. Consul Litton and Mr. Taotai Shih, when they jointly examined the boundary, was found to be unreliable, and moreover, as the offer made by the late British Minister Satow to regard the watershed as the boundary between the two Empires was not agreed to by our Government, it is not friendly on the part of the British Government, having refused to examine the boundary again, to send their soldiers forthwith to Pien Ma and govern the district.
All the native villages in Pien Ma belong to the native hereditary chief of Teng-Keng. As Mr. Litton desired to take these places on perpetual lease on similar terms to the lease of San Chio Ti, it is obvious that Mr. Litton firmly recognised that Pien Ma is Chinese territory. There are also in existence many documents of Taokwang's reign which refer to the customary taxes received from those native tribes. Even at the present time the natives still resort to the magistrate of the Pao-Shan district to have their legal disputes settled. Further numerous despatches have been received from the British Minister, in which he said that his Government was willing to compensate the Teng-Keng chief for the customary presents and dues which he used to receive from the different villages, which shows without any doubt that the British Government also recognise that Pien Ma is within the territory of China. Moreover, the documents issued by the Board of War in Taokwang's reign, recognising the hereditary succession of the two native chiefs, Ming Kwang and Yang Tso, and their rights of administration in Tsu Chu and Fai Lai, are still in existence. All the above facts are real proofs of the rights claimed which must be well known to the British Government,
The friendly relations existing between China and Great Britain have always been so close that this boundary question, no matter how the delimitation is made, cannot but come to an amicable settlement provided the British soldiers are first withdrawn from Pien Ma.
Besides communicating with the British Minister in Peking, we request you to arrange the matter with the British Foreign Office, and telegraph the result to us.
[1909 s-1]
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