The Portuguese claim consisted of the whole of the Peninsula of Macao as far north as Portas do Cerco, the Island of Lappa, Green Island (Ilha Verde), Ilhas de Taipa, Ilha de Coloane, Ilha Macarira, Ilha da Tai-Vong-Cam, other small islands, and the waters of Porto Interior.  The Portuguese Commissioner also demanded that the portion of Chinese territory between Portas de Cerco and Peishanling be neutralized.

In the absence of evidence, documentary or otherwise, China could not admit Portugal’s title to half the territory claimed, but was prepared to concede all that part of the Peninsula of Macao south of Portas do Cerco which was already beyond the limits of the original Portuguese Possession of Macao, and also to grant the developed parts of Ilhas de Coloane as Portuguese settlements.  The ownership of territorial waters was to remain vested in China.

The negotiations having proved fruitless were transferred to Lisbon but on the outbreak of the Revolution in Portugal they were suspended.  No material progress has been made since.

3rd TIBET

In November, 1911, the Chinese garrison in Lhassa, in sympathy with the revolutionary cause in China, mutinied against Amban Lien-yu, a Chinese Bannerman, and a few months later the Tibetans, by order of the Dalai Lama, revolted and besieged the Chinese forces in Lhassa till they were starved out and eventually evacuated Tibet.  Chinese troops in Kham were also ejected.  An expedition was sent from Szechuan and Yunnan to Tibet, but Great Britain protested and caused its withdrawal.

In August, 1912, the British Minister in Peking presented a Memorandum to the Chinese Government outlining the attitude of Great Britain towards the Tibetan question.  China was asked to refrain from dispatching a military expedition into Tibet, as the re-establishment of Chinese authority would, it is stated, constitute a violation of the Anglo-Chinese Treaty of 1906.  Chinese suzerainty in regard to Tibet was recognized.  But Great Britain could not consent to the assertion of Chinese sovereignty over a State enjoying independent treaty relations with her.  In conclusion, China was invited to come to an agreement regarding Tibet on the lines indicated in the Memorandum, such agreement to be antecedent to Great Britain’s recognition of the Republic.  Great Britain also imposed an embargo on the communications between China and Tibet via India.

In deference to the wishes of the British Government, China at once issued orders that the expeditionary force should not proceed beyond Giamda.  In her reply she declared that the Chinese Government had no intention of converting Tibet into another province of China and that the preservation of the traditional system of Tibetan government was as much the desire of China as of Great Britain.  The dispatch of troops into Tibet was, however, necessary for the fulfilment of the responsibilities attaching to China’s treaty obligations with Great Britain, which required