A Chinese consulate general was already present in Jakarta (at that time Batavia) prior to Indonesian independence. By November 1909, negotiations between China and the Netherlands on consular rights were ongoing, and a letter from Chinese legate in The Hague, Lou Tseng-Tsiang, indicated that the Dutch agreed to the opening of a Chinese consulate in the Dutch East Indies. Their bilateral consular convention was signed in 1911. The first consuls were appointed by the new Republic of China government, which took power shortly after the convention. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the consulate was located near Kali Besar, and was headed by a consul-general. It was evacuated due to the Japanese invasion of Java, though the consul-general was captured. By January 1946, a new Chinese consul-general had arrived in Batavia.