Thereupon
the British member after making slight concessions in regard to
representation in the Chinese Parliament and the boundary in the
neighbourhood of Lake Kokonor threatened, in the event of his
persisting in his refusal, to eliminate the clause recognizing the
suzerainty of China, and ipso facto the privileges appertaining
thereto from the draft Convention already initialled by the
British and Tibetan plenipotentiaries. In order to save the
situation, the Chinese delegate initialled the documents, but on
the clear understanding that to initial and to sign were two
different things and that to sign he must obtain instructions from
his Government.
China, dissatisfied with the suggested division into an Inner and
Outer Tibet the boundaries of which would involve the evacuation
of those districts actually in Chinese effective occupation and
under its administration, though otherwise in accord with the
general principles of the draft Convention, declared that the
initialled draft was in no way binding upon her and took up the
matter with the British Government in London and with its
representative in Peking. Protracted negotiations took place
thereafter, but, in spite of repeated concessions from the Chinese
side in regard to the Chinese side in regard to the boundary
question, the British Government would not negotiate on any basis
other than the initialled convention.
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