On July 3 an Agreement based
on the terms of the draft Convention but providing special
safeguards for the interests of Great Britain and Tibet in the
event of China continuing to withhold her adherence, was signed
between Great Britain and Tibet, not, however, before Mr. Ivan
Chen had declared that the Chinese Government would recognize any
treaty or similar document that might then or thereafter be signed
between Great Britain and Tibet.
CHINA'S STANDPOINT
With the same spirit of compromise and a readiness to meet the
wishes of the British Government and even to the extent of making
considerable sacrifices in so far as they were compatible with her
dignity, China has more than once offered to renew negotiations
with the British Government but the latter has up to the present
declined to do so. China wants nothing more than the re-
establishment of Chinese suzerainty over Tibet, with recognition
of the autonomy of the territory immediately under the control of
the Lhassa Government; she is agreeable to the British idea of
forming an effective buffer territory in so far as it is
consistent with equity and justice; she is anxious that her trade
interest should be looked after by her trade agents as do the
British, a point which is agreeable even to the Tibetans though
apparently not to the British; in other words, she expects that
Great Britain would at least make with her an arrangement
regarding Tibet which should not be any less disadvantageous to
her than that made with Russia respecting Outer Mongolia.
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