Directory_and_Chronicle_1925 — Page 335

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FRANCE

TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SIAM

SIGNED AT PARIS, FEBRUARY, 1904

I.-The frontier between Siam and Cambodia starts on the left bank of the Great Lake, from the mouth of the River Stung Ruolos. It follows the parallel of this point in an Eastward direction till it meets the River Preak Kompung Tiam; then, turning Northward, it corresponds to the meridian of that point till it reaches the Pnom Dong-rek Mountains. Thence it follows the watershed between the basins of the Nam-Sen and the Mekong on the one side, and of the Nam-Mun on the other, and joins the Pnon Padang range, the crest of which it follows towards the East as far as the Mekong. Above that point the Mekong remains the frontier of the King- dom of Siam, in conformity with Clause I. of the Treaty of October 3, 1893.

II. With regard to the frontier between Louang-Prabang, on the right bank of the Mekong, and the Provinces of Muang-Phichai and Muang-Nan, it starts from the Mekong at its confluence with the Nam-Huong, and follows the thalweg of that river to its confluence with the Nam-Tang. Then, ascending the course of the said River Nam-Tang, it reaches the watershed between the basins of the Mekong and the Menan, at a point situated near Pou-Dene-Dene. From that spot it turns Northward, following the watershed between the two basins to the sources of the River Nam-Kop, the course of which it follows till it meets the Mekong.

III.—The delimitation of the frontier between the Kingdom of Siam and the territories forming French Indo-China shall be carried out. That delimitation shall be made by mixed Commissions, composed of officers appointed by the two contracting countries. The duties of those Commissions shall concern the frontier determined by Clauses I. and II., as well as the region comprised between the Great Lake and the sea.

With the object of facilitating the work of the Commissions and of avoiding every possible difficulty in the delimitation of the frontier in the region comprised between the Great Lake and the sea, the two Governments will come to an agreement before nominating the mixed Commissions, fixing the principal points of the delimita- tion in that region, and especially the point at which the frontier will reach the sea. The mixed Commissions shall be appointed and begin their work within four months after the notification of the present Convention.

IV. The Siamese Government renounces all Sovereign rights over the territories of Louang-Prabang, situated on the right bank of the Mekong. Merchant boats and wood rafts belonging to the Siamese shall have the right to navigate freely that portion of the Mekong traversing the territory of Louang-Prabang.

V.-As soon as the Agreement stipulated for in Paragraph 2 of Clause III., relative to the delimitation of the frontier between the Great Lake and the sea, shall have been established, and as soon as it has been officially notified to the French authorities that the territory involved in this Agreement, and the territories situated to the East of the frontier, as indicated in Clauses I. and II. of the present Treaty, are at their disposal, the French troops which provisionally occupied Chantabun, in virtue of the Convention of October 3, 1893, shall leave that town.

VI. The stipulations of Clause IV. of the Treaty of October 3, 1893, shall be replaced by the following:-" His Majesty the King of Siam undertakes that the troops he sends or keeps throughout the whole of the Siamese Basin of the Mekong shall always be troops of Siamese nationality, commanded by officers of that nationality. The only exception to this rule is made in favour of the Siamese Gendarmerie, at present commanded by Danish officers. Should the Siamese Govern- ment wish to substitute for these officers, foreign officers belonging to another