"The World and Japan" Database (Project Leader: TANAKA Akihiko)
Database of Japanese Politics and International Relations
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS); Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), The University of Tokyo

[Title] Memorandum of U.K. Foreign Secretary on the Negotiation between China and U.K.

[Place]
[Date] November 27, 1915
[Source] Nihon gaiko nenpyo Narabi Shuyou bunsyo Jyo, Gaimusyo, pp.417-418.
[Notes]
[Full text]

You should inform the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, in view of the rumour that an alliance is being negotiated at Peking between China and Great Britain, that we have not contemplated anything of the kind and that we have no intention, except in consultation with Japan, of entering upon negotiations of a political nature with China.

When the question was merely one of the purchase privately of guns and rifles we dealt with it alone, but we approached Japan directly it assumed a political aspect and we have consistently refused, without the cooperation of Japan, to continue discussing the matter at Peking.