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collapse, cringed to Japan and sued for peace. The treaty of Shimonoseki was concluded whereby 200 million taels of silver was paid as compensation and Taiwan and Liaodong peninsula were ceded. (he latter was subsequently redeemed for 30 million taels of silver). This was yet another humiliating and unequal treaty in China's modern history. The debacle of the Qing armed forces in the war exposed in a glaring light the inability of the Qing government and the weakness of the Chinese nation, Imperialists fell over themselves in their wild scramble for the Chinese game, getting ra, lway and mining concessions, grabbing seaports, carving out spheres of influence, and struggling with one another to partition China. A horrifying scene presented itself in China which was in imminent danger of ceasing to exist as an independent state.
Less than a month after the Shimonoseki Treaty was concluded, a joint defence committee of the British Navy and Army submitted, on May 13 1895, a report to the Ministry of Defence and the Admiralty. The report asserted that strategic considerations demanded the extension and adjustment of the Hong Kong border.
It stated that for the appropriate defence of Hong Kong's security, not only control of the waters between the island and the mainland was necessary but also that of the seacoasts to the south andnorth of the island was called for. The report went on to say that the southern coasts were already controlled by the British whereas the northern ones were still under Chinese control and there was a need to take over control. It further alleged that South Kowloon, the site of a naval base and dockyard, was too small to be of avail in the defence of Hong Kong. The Defence Minister and the First Sea Lord concurred in the recommendations of the report. They were however apprehensive that extension of Hong Kong's border might precipitate a chain of undesirable effects. France, in particular, might follow suit and threaten British interests in South China. So the report was temporarily shelved.
(Note 29)
To be continued in Part II)
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