(1) No tariff is to be imposed by either Russia or China, unless trade attains "such development as to necessitate its establishment."
(2) Free Trade to be maintained between all Chinese and Russian subjects in the principal towns and "trading areas" of Mongolia and Chinese Turkestan.
(3) An old custom that Russian and Chinese subjects can settle permanently, trade, and acquire land and houses within fifty versts on either side of the Russo-Chinese frontier, is confirmed.
(4) Russian subjects have the right to settle and acquire houses, for the purpose of carrying on trade in all "trading places" on either side of the Tian-Shan ranges and in the country outside the Great Wall.
It can be seen without further comment that the ambiguity and confusion of ideas in these provisions have been profitable to the interests of those who do not desire to see Chinese political influence firmly established over the Tartar tribes outside the Great Wall. The ambiguity, moreover, of the clause relating to the future imposition of customs leaves a wide field for speculation as to the limit which commercial development should reach before necessitating customs!
In practice, therefore, the treaty of 1881 has proved useful as a diplomatic lever, which Russia can apply to China whenever occasion requires it. Moreover, the isolation and complicated geographical features which prevail over a large area of the Siberian-Mongolian borderland has rendered the provision for a fifty-verst neutral zone very elastic, and in the past the zone has been extended far beyond its
