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CHINA.
(Previous
Reference: Cabinet 30 (28), Con- clusion 5.)
3. The Secretary of State for War reported to
the Cabinet, as a matter of urgency, the position
which had arisen in the Kailan mining area in
North China, where there are a number of British
subjects, in consequence of the withdrawal on
May 19th of American troops from Tongshan.
Suggestions had been made that British troops
should take over this area. The potential
military commitments involved in the despatch of
a Battalion of British troops to take over the
sector vacated by the Americans were such that
this step could not be authorised. A telegram to
this effect, giving reasons, had accordingly been
sent by the Foreign Office to Sir Miles Lampson
on May 23rd (Telegram No.133), in which instruc-
tions had been given that all British subjects
resident in the Kailan mining area were to be
informed that British troops would not be sent
there for their protection, in order that they
might have time to withdraw if they desired to
do so. Enquiry had then been made as to whether
the Japanese would take over the sector, but they
had refused, for the same reasons. The present
position as reported by Sir Miles Lamps on on
June 5th (Peking Telegrams Nos. 555 and 556) was
that, although the families of foreign employés,
with the exception of two Belgian ladies, had
left the Kailan aroa, the personnel remained,
and, though safe at the moment, might be in
danger; that it was considered that it might
be dangerous for them to evacuate umarmed, and
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