Reading & Question Answer

SINO-RUSSIAN RAILWAY Ac;REEMENTS 1177

H. E. ITO. Our intention is to send troops and officials to take Formosa over within a few weeks after the Treaty has been ratified.

H. E. LI. Someone can be appointed to consult with the Governor of Formosa about all matters pertaining to the transfer.

H. E. ITO. As soon as ratifications have been excbanged the Chinese officials should proclaim the transfer to the Formosans and wi: will send troops and officers to take charge for the time of all war material.

H.E. LI. Will you also send Civil officers/ H.E. ITO. Yes. H. E. LI. The transfer is a highly important matter, and rules should be made

first to prevent confusion. H. E. ITO. We cannot wait six months. As soon as ratifications are

exchanged we will send our people there .... H.E. LI. One month is rushing the matter. The Zongli Yamen and myself

are too far removed from Formosa to know the actual situation there. It would be much better for China to delegate the Governor of Formosa to arrange with tbe Japanese Governor on the spot what the conditions of trans­ fer shall be. Then, the Treaty having been exchanged, we shall be on friendly· terms and arrangements can readily be made.

H.E. ITO. One month is sufficient. H. E. LI. There are many things to consider. Two months would give us

more time to arrange to mutual advantage. Why such headlong haste about Formosa/ The plum is already in your mouth.

H. E. ITO. But we shall hunger for it until we have bolted it down. H. E. LI. One would think the 200 millions enough to satisfy your cravings.

After exchange of ratifications it will be necessary to ask for an Imperial Decree appointing an official. One month is too brief

H.E. ITO. We can make it "within a month an official shall be appointed by Edict, etc."

H. E. LI. Do not mention the Edict. H.E. ITO. Can you appoint an official within a month or not/ H. E. LI. Yes, but the arrangements for the transfer ought to be made by the

Governor of Formosa. H.E. !TO. We should specify that within two months the transfer shall be

wholly accomplished.

10.3 SINO-RUSSIAN RAILWAY

AGREEMENTS, ! 896

In Cheng and Lestz with Jonathan, The Search for Modern China, A Documentary Collection, 177-181.

The key mover behind the Triple Intervention was the Russian Count Sergius Witte (1849-1915), who sought to deny the Japanese control of Southern Manchuria and diminish the role they would play in Korea.

In H.E. Gorst, Except from "China," in The Fourth Party (Smith: Elder, 1906).

CHINA

CHAPTER I

IMPENDING CHANGES IN THE FAR EAST

The New Political· Stage-Conflicting Opinions about the ]future of Japa.n­ ·Ohina's nnex:i>ected Collapse-The· Ee.stern Triple Alliance-The Fruits of our Polioy-Sphere.s of Influence-The Future of China,

UNTIL quite recently China was· scarcely more than a name to the people of Great Britain ; yet within an incredibly short space of time that distant country of the ·Far East has become the political stage upon which the drama of the world seems destined to be played out. . The scene of the struggle between the great rival Powers of the West to' maintain an international equilibrium has been shifted from the immediate neighbour­ hood of Europe, where the Ottoman Empire has been practically abandoned to the inevitable outcome of its own inherent weak­ ness, and has been transferred by the irresistible march of events to those vast regions on the confines of Asia whose civilized millions have for scores of centuries been isolated fro:m the rest of humanity. Scarcely more than a page of the history of our connection with China has as yet been written ; but no one who reads his daily newspaper, and keeps pace with the passing events ·of the hour, can have failed to foresee that

A