In making the terms of his appointment Government considered that the grounds and conditions of our self-restraint in this matter should be clearly indicated to the Tibetans. It should be explained that His Majesty’s Government consented to waive their claim to the appointment of a Resident Agent at Lhasa solely out of regard for the Tibetan desire to maintain their freedom from contact with European influence at the political and religious capital of their country; that they were prepared to forego this demand, so long as the Tibetan Government preserved an attitude of isolation from external affairs, and avoided all intercourse with other European Powers; but that, in the event of any departure by the Tibetans from this policy in the future, the British Government would reserve to themselves the right to require the acceptance of an agent at the capital itself.
Government considered, however, that this alternative, the least which could be contemplated, was not calculated, in the same degree, to afford a guarantee of satisfactory results. An agent at Gyantse, though possibly in greater personal security, would probably not be in so good a position for knowing what transpired in political circles at Lhasa.
But whether or not a British agent was established in Tibet, Government considered that recent events justified their requiring from the Tibetans and from the Chinese Government a formal recognition of our exclusive political influence in Tibet, and an engagement that they would not admit to Tibet the representative of, that they would cede no portion of Tibetan territory to, and that they would enter into no relations regarding Tibet with, any other foreign Power, without the previous consent of the British Government.
Turning to less contentious matter, namely, that of facilities for trade with Tibet, to secure which was the primary object of the Mission when it was originally despatched on an errand, which was then indubitably peaceful in character and intention, Government contended that it was, of course, necessary to insist on access for purposes of trade to convenient centres in Tibet proper in the place of Yatung, which was beyond all question unsuitable for the object for which it was intended. In Central Tibet present information led to the belief that the town of Gyantse provided the site which was best fitted to our requirements. And, in view of recent developments, they thought that it might be advisable to insist on the opening up to trade of the neighbouring town of Shigatse, the seat of the Tashi Lama, and also of Lhasa itself, if a British Resident should be posted to the capital. They considered, too, that the present opportunity should be taken of completing the road to the frontier, and of opening another market at Gartok or some other convenient place in Western Tibet, which, with its vicinity to Chinese Turkestan, might acquire considerable importance in the future.