[B]
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
6654
[February 27.]
SECTION 2.
[7160]
No. 1.
Sir G. Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received February 27.)
(No. 43.) Sir,
St. Petersburgh, February 21, 1911. AT his weekly reception of the 15th instant, the Minister for Foreign Affairs handed to the representatives of the Great Powers a memorandum, of which a copy is enclosed, embodying six points on which the Russian Minister at Peking had been instructed to demand satisfaction from the Chinese Government. This document, his Excellency explained, had not the character of an ultimatum, as no term was specified within which its demands must be complied with. If, however, satisfaction was not accorded within the next two or three weeks, the Russian Government would take such measures as they might deem necessary for vindicating their treaty rights. On my enquiring what form these measures were likely to assume, M. Sazonow said that a military demonstration would probably be made on the frontier of Mongolia or of Chinese Turkestan.
In a subsequent interview I enquired whether it was true, as was commonly reported here, that the Russian Government contemplated reoccupying Kuldja. His Excellency replied that the demonstration would probably be made in that direction, and, though he avoided committing himself one way or the other, there can, I think, be little doubt that Kuldja will be reoccupied should the Chinese refuse to yield.
On the 16th instant, the "Official Messenger" published the full text of the note which the Russian Minister had delivered at Peking on that day, and I have the honour to forward the accompanying translation of those passages of it which were not included in the memorandum handed me by M. Sazonow.
I have also the honour to enclose a memorandum drawn up by Mr. Garnett, second secretary to His Majesty's Embassy, who, in the year 1908, made a prolonged tour through Mongolia and Turkestan, on the subject of Russo-Chinese relations in those provinces. The information which it coutains will, I think, be found of interest at the present moment.
M. Sazonow informed me on Saturday that he had received a telegram from Peking, stating that the Russian note had produced a very considerable impression on the Chinese Government, and his Excellency evidently hoped that he would obtain satisfaction without having recourse to military measures.
I have, &c.
GEORGE W. BUCHANAN.
499
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Memorandum communicated to Representatives of Great Powers at St. Petersburgh.
(A titre strictement privé.)
I.
LES traités entre la Russie et la Chine ne contiennent aucune stipulation limitant le droit du Gouvernement russe de frapper de droits de douane le commerce entre les deux pays, à l'exception d'une zone de 50 verstes des deux côtés de leur frontière de terre où le commerce se fait en franchise de droits, comme il est stipulé à l'article 1er du Règlement de Commerce annexé au traité de 1881.
II.
Les sujets russes jouissent en Chino des droits d'exterritorialité. Les litiges entre les sujets russes et les sujets chinois doivent être régles par des tribunaux mixtes (article 11 du traité de 1881).
[1909 dd-2]
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