The Chinese Minister to the Secretary of State.

No. 13.]

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I have received telegraphic instructions from my Government to convey to you the substance of a note addressed by the Wai-wu-Pu to the representatives of Japan and Russia at Peking regarding the recent treaty concluded between those two countries with reference to Manchuria. A translation of the telegram is as follows:

By this treaty Japan and Russia having mutually engaged to give special importance to the existing treaties between China and Japan, between China and Russia, and between Japan and Russia, the treaty, therefore, is in conformity with and at the same time confirms the treaty of peace of 1905 between Japan and Russia, which recognizes the sovereignty of China in the three Provinces of Manchuria, upholds the principle of equal opportunity for all nations, and recommends the adoption by China of necessary measures for the industrial and commercial development of the three Provinces of Manchuria, as well as the convention of the thirty-first year of Kuanghsu (1905) between China and Japan, which provides for the opening of the three Provinces of Manchuria to international trade. The obligation of the Imperial Government to carry out the intent of the treaties between China and Japan in accordance with the principles laid down in the treaty of peace between Japan and Russia remains the same. It is the purpose of the Imperial Government to maintain with unremitting endeavors in matters affecting the exercise of China’s sovereign rights, the principle of equal opportunity for all nations, and the industrial and commercial development of the three Provinces of Manchuria, a policy that will operate for the benefit of all concerned.

I understand that copies of the above-mentioned note have been communicated to the representatives of all the Powers at Peking.

Accept, etc.,

Chang Yin Tang.