The terms of the German acquisition of Kiao-chau, as officially communicated to the Reichstag by Herr von Bülow, Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, on the 8th of February, 1898, were as follows: "The Imperial Chinese Government, in fulfilment of the legitimate wish of the German Government to possess, in common with other Powers, a point in the matters [waters?] of Eastern Asia, where German vessels may be fitted out and repaired, where the necessary materials can be deposited, and other arrangements made in connection with that object, cedes to the German Government in the form of a lease, to run, as at present fixed, for a period of ninety-nine years, the territory situated on both sides of the entrance to the Bay of Kiao-chau, in South Shantung, more accurately described below, in such a manner that the German Government will be at liberty to erect all necessary buildings, &c., within the territory, and take all the measures required for their defence. According to the English chart of Kiao-chau Bay of 1863, the district leased to the German Government consists of the following: 1. The promontory north of the entrance to the bay, bounded on the north-east by a straight line drawn from the extreme north-eastern point of Potato Island to the sea-coast in the direction of Zoshan. 2. The promontory south of the entrance to the bay, bounded on the south-west by a straight line drawn from the southernmost point of the inlet situated to the south-west of Tschiposan, in the direction of the Tolosan Islands (Weber chart), to the sea-coast. 3. The Island of Tschiposan and Potato Island, as well as all the islands lying at the entrance to the bay, inclusive of Tolosan and Seslien. Further, the Chinese Government undertake not to frame any Regulations within a zone of 50 kilometers round the bay without the consent of the German Government, and, in particular, to offer no resistance to any measures necessary for regulating the course of the rivers. The Chinese Government also grant to German troops the right of passage across the zone above described. With the object of avoiding every possibility of collision, the Chinese Government will exercise no rights of sovereignty within the leased territory during the period of the lease, but they cede these rights as well as those over the entire water-surface of the Bay of Kiao-chau to the German Government. The German Government will erect sea-marks on the islands and shallows at the entrance to the bay. 4. In the event of the territory leased not proving to be adapted to the requirements of the German Government, the Government of China will cede to Germany a more suitable district, and will take back the Bay of Kiao-chau, paying compensation for any improvements or constructions the Germans may have made there.