This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
[1639]
No. 1.
14858
Tangara bé
SECTION 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey-(Received January 15.)
(No. 11.) (Telegraphic.) P.
BURMAH-YUNNAN frontier.
Peking, January 15, 1911.
Please refer to my despatch No. 473 of the 29th December and your telegram No. 159 of the 16th December.
I have received the Wai-wu Pu's reply, dated yesterday, to my note of the 17th December, and they ask that it may be communicated to His Majesty's Government, with a request for an early reply.
The position taken up by the Chinese Government in this note is that they have never agreed to the basis of the boundary referred to in my note, and they cannot assent to the question being decided by one of the parties only.
They decline to accept responsibility for any collision which may result from the Burmah troops proceeding to the Nmai-Kha watershed, and thus crossing the line which the Chinese Government hold to be the frontier.
The area included in the watershed frontier declared in Sir E. Satow's note of 1006 is too wide, and the country embraced is all under Chinese native chiefs.
The Wai-wu Pu ask that the frontier officials be strictly instructed by His Majesty's Government to continue to regard the northern course of the Hsia Chiang (Ngaw Chaung Kha) as the frontier to be observed pending a definite settlement. If it is really desired by His Majesty's Government that an agreement be first arrived at on the question of a basis for the frontier line before steps are taken to appoint officers for a joint delimitation, the Chinese Government would be prepared to assent to that
course.
The note concludes by stating that the Chinese Minister in London is being instructed to approach you and co-operate in negotiations, from which it is hoped an equitable settlement will result.
[1850 p-1]
209
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