File 868/1904 Pt 6 'Consular: China; as to appointment of Consuls at Rangoon, Mandalay and Calcutta' [‎93r] (81/156)

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FOREIGN SECRET TELEGRAMS.
Secret Department.
From Viceroy, 23rd May 1908.
Following
views
Foreign Secret. Chinese Consul at Mandalay.
Lieutenant-Governor of Burma :—
“ The Chinese Minister has been misinformed of Chinese in Mandalay. At
the last census Chinese population of Mandalay town and district was 1,576.
The total Chinese population of the province was under 70,000. The
Chinese population of the city of Rangoon was 11,018. The Lieutenant-
Governor is not aware of any ground for the suggestion that Mandalay now
surpasses Rangoon as centre of Chinese trade, and he is satisfied that it is
not the case. The Chinese population of Mandalay and places to the north
consists principally of Yunnanese, who are loyal and well-behaved and
neither give trouble nor require protection. There is no possible legitimate
need of a Chinese Consul at Mandalay, or of official visit of a Chinese Consul
to that place. In the Lieutenant-Governor’s opinion, the only reason for
proposal to place a Chinese Consul at Mandalay is to foment intrigues,
probably against railway project, and to undermine cordial relations at
present existing between people, as distinguished from officials, of Yunnan
and ourselves.
Official visit of a Chinese Consul to Mandalay would have same design
and an equally bad effect. From a political point of view it is specially
undesirable that anything should be done to revive interest in the claim
formerly put forward by China to suzerainty over Upper Burma. As it
would be obvious to everyone in Mandalay that for trade purposes the
presence of a Consul there is not necessary, his visit would certainly be
regarded as having political significance. The agreement in the Conventions
of 1894 and 1897 is that China may appoint a Consul at Rangoon and that,
as the commerce between Burma and China increases, additional Consuls
may be appointed as the requirements of trade may seem to demand. A
peripatetic Consul is not contemplated. His Honour advises that this
position should be maintained, and that, until the development of trade
requires a Consul elsewhere, the Consul appointed should remain at
Rangoon. For these reasons he urges as strongly as possible that the
proposed compromise should not be put forward or accepted. He
convinced that its adoption would tend to accentuate difficulties of our
position in Yunnan, and would be of no benefit to Chinese trade in Man
dalay.”
We concur with Lieutenant-Governor.
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