China.

Manawatu Herald, 25 October 1900, Page 2

China.

THE ANGiQ-GER^N* AGRE^

The official announcement of an Anglo-German agreement tiavirig been amved .at for the opening up of the Chinese littoral and ports is unanimously approved throughout Germany. Relief .is felt in the knowledge , that the world policy of the Empesor has a powerful friend behind it in . Great Britain. ■'■ A semi-official declaration has been ■ made at Berlin that the dominant note of the Anglo-German agreement ensures commercial eqnality, especially in the Yang* tee- Kiang provinces. A Reuter message says that it is an open .secret in Berlin that the relations ■ between Russia and Germany are somewhat cooler. The publication ot • the agreement at this juncture is regarded as opportune. - - The authorities at Washington are reported to be gratified -at the AngloGerman agreement, and it is considered certain they will endorse it. The French newspapers eulogise the spirit of the agreement, but- consider that a secret, private agreement containing a clause apparently aimed at Russia is. under the existing circumstances somewTiat disquieting. "The Times" shows that the French press comments are based on ' a telegraphic error. The third clause of the agreement is a purely contingent one, relating to an unlikely eventuality. . The Berlin correspondent of " The Times" says that tn view of Germany's traditional confidential relations*. with Russia, it may be presumed that Russia was informed of the terms of the agreement beforehand. It is almost certain that the agreement will improve the relations of Russia and It is primarily so diguised that its mainspring is really political, '•but whatever its advantages or disadvantages to Great Britain, it was urgently desJ^Wfi) r -vsf dgMgßgmM will adhere to its^terms WwFfcHnl** China to reason . «*. y* £ $$&* " Tfie Times " . hopefe the'agreeai#t will strengthen:; the hands of Coimt Von Waldersea.v?'-* . .. .^ „ . Other newspapers take a sober jriew " of the agreement. This •• Standard **'■-* !is congratulatory intone. ';*? y The Berlin correspondent ot tfie "latter paper states that Baron Von Bulow, the imperial Chancellor, called on the Russian Ambassador and re- " 'I turned thanks for Russia's promised assent. • '- ' • There are indications that blithe * Powers aquiesce in the agreement, ,« which is not retrospective, anifl is -: r. r6stricted to China proper. The Anglo-German agreement with regard to trade on the Chinese rivers and littoral is being widely discussed... The American-newspapers describe^ it as Lord Salisbury's finest masterpiece of diplomacy. .--. --.;. .:,■:■ « It is interpreted in England as a written conservation of the principle professed on all sides, and as merely complementary to the Anglo-Russian agreement of 'lß9o. If the open door policy fails, the spheres of influence of the various countries will survive, thus precluding the* gredominence of any rival.,.- v ' ■ * M. Delcasse, 'French Minister for Foreign Affairs, *is' favourable to the agreement, and considers that only unanimous, strong, self-denying actio^i can overcome the present crisis*

The Russian press is sensitive with reference to the agreement, declaring it to be unjustly suspicious of Russia as the traditional guardian of China's integrity. Some of the papers declare that partition is now inevitable. The "Novoe Vrernya" says that the territory north of the Peiho River is a Russian sphere of influence, and that an open door policy is there inadmissible.