CO129-497 - Public Offices - 1926 — Page 146

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Weihaiwei.

207. It was stated in last year's report that on the eve of the signature of the convention for the rendition of Weihaiwei, Dr. Wellington Koo, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with whom the negotiations had been conducted, suddenly disappeared as a result of the revolutionary coup d'Etat on the 23rd October, and that in view of the fact that the new Government had only received the de facto recognition of the Powers it was found necessary to postpone retrocession pending the de jure recognition of Marshal Tuan Ch'i-jui's Provisional Government. At the time of writing, recognition has not yet been formally accorded, nor has the Provisional Government taken any steps to secure the signature of the convention so that the territory of Weihaiwei still remains in the occupation of the British, and continues to serve as a summer resort for the ships of the China squadron.

208. In August a telegram was received from the Foreign Office suggesting that as His Majesty's Government had now practically recognised the Chinese Govern- ment, presumably in connection with the Special Conference, there seemed to be no To this good reason why the retrocession agreement should not be signed. Mr. Palairet, who was then in charge of the Legation, replied, deprecating our taking any initiative in the matter owing to the provisional nature of the Government and the danger that impending civil war between Marshals Feng and Chang might lead to the resignation of the Chief Executive, and the Government thus be left without even a nominal head.

209. Neither the Chinese press nor the student associations have paid much attention to Weihaiwei during the past year beyond occasional references of the stereotyped nature to Great Britain's various breaches of China's sovereign rights, among which the "seizure" of Weihaiwei is included, and our “imperialistic policy" in maintaining armed forces in the territory. As a matter of fact our army of occupation consists of one subaltern and twenty men.

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