ABSTRACT
The German Government were prepared to accept the Russian contention that the evacuation should be made independent of the conclusion of the trade agreement, but refused to dissociate the evacuation question from that of the indemnity. Germany supported Japan, who desired to remain in occupation until after payment of both the thirty million taels, and the first two instalments of the war indemnity. The latest news received here does not leave any doubt that the Russo-French loan to China has been consummated, and we shall have to consider this fact in future. In fact one consequence of the Franco-Russian loan was that the German Government virtually became the sponsor of Japan's claims as against the Russo-French group. It was incompatible with the ostensible object of the Dreibund intervention—namely, the maintenance of the territorial status quo of the Chinese State. It differed only in method from the dismemberment programme which the Dreibund programme sought to avert.
