Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 320

RUSSIA

DECLARATION EXCHANGED BETWEEN RUSSIA

AND SIAM

SIGNED AT BANGKOK, 23RD JUNE, 1899

The Imperial Government of Russia and the Royal Government of Siam, being desirous to facilitate the relations between the two countries, have, awaiting the conclusion of a Treaty of Commerce and Amity, agreed as follows:-

That for everything relating to jurisdiction, commerce, and navigation, Russian subjects on Siamese territory and Siamese subjects on Russian térritory shall hence- forth enjoy, till the expiration of the present arrangement, all the rights and privileges granted to the subjects of other natious respectively in Siam and in Russia by the Treaties now in existence and by Treaties that may be concluded in the future.

This arrangement shall be applied by the two contracting parties from the day of its signature and till the expiration of six months after the day on which the one or the other of the high contracting parties shall have denounced it.

The present declaration having been drawn up in the Russian, Siamese and French languages, and the three versions having the same scope and the same meaning, the French text shall be regarded as official and legal in all respects.

In faith of which the undersigned, duly authorised for that purpose, have drawn up the present declaration, to which they have affixed their signatures and seals.

GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE

AND

DECLARATION SIGNED BY GREAT BRITAIN

FRANCE RESPECTING SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

SIGNED AT LONDON, 15TH JANUARY, 1896

The undersigned, duly authorised by their respective Governments, have signed the following Declaration :-

I.-The Governments of Great Britain and France engage to one another that neither of them will, without the consent of the other, in any case, or under any pretext, advance their armed forces into the region which is comprised in the basins of the Petcha Bouri, Meiklong, Menam, and Bang Pa Kong (Petriou) rivers and their respective tributaries, together with the extent of coast from Muong Bang Tapan to Muong Pase, the basins of the rivers on which those two places are situated, and the basins of the other rivers, the estuaries of which are included in that coast; and including also the territory lying to the north of the basin of the Menam and situated between the Anglo-Siamese frontier, the Mekong River, and the Eastern watershed of the Me Ing. They further engage not to acquire within this region any special privilege or advantage which shall not be enjoyed in common by, or equally open to, Great Britain and France and their nationals and dependents. These stipulations, however, shall not be interpreted as derogating from the special clauses which, in virtue of the Treaty concluded on Oct. 3, 1893, between France and Siam, apply to a zone of 25 kilom. on the right bank of the Mekong and to the navigation of that river.

II.-Nothing in the foregoing clause shall hinder any action on which the two Powers may agree and which they shall think necessary in order to uphold the independence of the Kingdom of Siam. But they engage not to enter into any separate agreement permitting a third Power to take any action from which they are bound by the present declaration themselves to abstain.