CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915 — Page 255

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

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL,

[87297]

No. 1.

5481

EBIE.

250

[December 28.]

SECTION 1,

(No. 397.) Sir,

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 28.)

Peking, November 21, 1914.

I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a report by Mr. Hoare, second secretary of His Majesty's Legation, on recent events in this country.

This report covers a period of some interest, and appears to me to reflect very accurately the situation in China as affected by the present war.

I have, &c.

J. N. JORDAN,

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

Report by Mr. Hoare,

DURING the past months all outward indications go to show that the Central Government has strengthened its hold on the provinces, and this impression is confirmed by the fact that the outbreak of war in Europe, and even the operations in connection with the siege of Tsingtao, have not provoked any serious demonstra- tious. In some districts, notably at Amoy, the organisation of an anti-Japanese boycott was mooted, but the proposal received no encouragement from the local authorities and died of inanition.

Though there has been little evidence of revolutionary activity, the Government continues to display the utmost vigilance, and apparently attaches credence to fantastic rumours, such as the organisation of a revolutionary force of 15,000 men in the Straits Settlements and the preparation of aeroplane raids by Chinese political refugees at Hong Kong. A recent presidential rescript directed against Sun Yat Sen has been considered by some observers to be an indication that the revolutionaries are expected to attempt a coup in the near future.

The Chinese press, except for the foreign-owned papers, and public appear to take a detached view of the war; how far this attitude is to be ascribed to ignorance or to an essentially Chinese indifference, and how far to fear of the press laws, it is not easy to judge. The official news issued by the allies, and occasionally by the Gerinan Legation, Renter's telegrams, and those of the "Ostasiatischer Lloyd" appear to be published without any marked partiality. It is true that violent editorial attacks on Japanese policy frequently appear, especially in connection with the seizure of the Shantung Railway, whereby the Japanese overstepped by some 200 miles the limits assigned to the military operations against Tsingtan by the Chinese Government.

British policy has naturally shared to some extent in this hostile criticism, but at the same time an almost invidious distinction is often drawn between the excellent behaviour of the British troops and the alleged barbarity of the Japanese. If a generalisation on the subject of public opinion in China may be hazarded, it is that, as foreign influence cannot be eliminated altogether, the status quo, including a strong German element, is preferable, but that if German influence must disappear, as seems to be realised to some extent, Great Britain is the best safeguard against Japanese aggression, and her hostility must therefore not be incurred.

A number of the quarterly reports from the consulates show that the machinery for the mobilisation of public opinion on the side of Germany was in existence when war broke out.

At Swatow during the first weeks there was a strong tendency only to publish news from German sources, but the judicious expenditure by the members of the British community of a trifling sum was sufficient to redress the balance. A similar state of affairs existed at Canton where, His Majesty's consul-general reports, "the Press Association was probably bribed to adopt a pro-German tone, and the compradore of the Deutsch Asiatische Bank is generally recognised as being the middleman for the transmission of news." Representations to the civil Governor and the closing down for a few days of one of the more vigorous pro-German organs in consequence of an

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