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Attach
15717/12/-//10.
2
It seems unlikely that Lord Strabolgi, in his speech on
the present situation in South China, will refer to what took
place in Nanking over a year ago. It seems much more likely
that he will ask Lord Plymouth privately whether he has seen
the letter sent by him to the Secretary of State on the 13th
February (F 1712/1712/10). If this is the case we suggest that
Lord Plymouth should reply to the effect that a considerable
amount of similar evidence reached the Foreign Office at the
time, some being actually published in the "Daily Telegraph"
and other papers both in this country and in the United States
of America. The only action taken by His Majesty's Government
was that the Military Attaché at Tokyo brought the matter private-
ly to the notice of the Japanese Military Authorities there.
As a result of the publicity referred to above, the Japanese
authorities despatched a special military officer of high rank
to Nanking to make investigations, subsequent to which
conditions appear to have shown considerable improvement.
Japanese appear to have been genuinely shocked at what happened
and at Nanking, or the atrocities there were not repeated when
Hankow and Canton were captured.
The
If, on the other hand, Lord Strabolgi does refer to it in
his speech, we suggest that Lord Plymouth should simply say that
we received much evidence of this character but that there is
reason to believe that these occurrences led the Japanese Military
Authorities to take the necessary steps to prevent their repet-
ition. It is essential to give the impression that the Japanese
Authorities in Tokyo took action in their own volition as soon
as thedeplorable state of affairs in Nanking was brought to
}
which
their notice, as in fact seems to have been the case, and that
their action was not due to pressure by foreign Powers.
Abscot
2/14
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25th February, 1939.
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