Note 649 — Chapter XIX · THE RUSSO-JAPANESE NEGOTIATIONS, II
Reading edition
The Russian counter-note was as follows:—
“Having no objection to the amendments to Article 2 of the Russian counter-proposals as proposed by the Imperial Japanese Government, the Russian Government considers it necessary:—
“1. To maintain the original wording of Article 5, which had already been agreed to by the Imperial Japanese Government, that is to say, ‘mutual engagement not to use any part of the territory of Korea for strategical purposes, not to undertake on the coasts of Korea any military works capable of menacing the freedom of navigation in the Korean Straits.’ [The Japanese Government had, as was pointed out by Baron Komura in the dispatch No. 39, never agreed to the first half of Article 5.]
“2. To maintain Article 6 concerning a neutral zone (this for the very purpose which the Imperial Japanese Government has likewise in view, that is to say, to eliminate everything that might lead to misunderstanding in the future; a similar zone, for example, exists between the Russian and British possessions in Central Asia).
“In case the above conditions are agreed to, the Russian Government would be prepared to include in the projected agreement an article of the following tenor:—
“‘Recognition by Japan of Manchuria and her littoral as being outside her sphere of interests, whilst Russia, within the limits of that province, will not impede Japan nor other Powers in the enjoyment of the rights and privileges acquired by them under existing treaties with China, exclusive of the establishment of settlements.’”—N.-R., No. 38.