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shall
declared enemy we should want to assist the
can
Chinese, so far as we could, in their
struggle with the Japanese and obtain from them
Can
any help which they could give us in return.
There are not many ways in which the Chinese
could give us direct help, apart from the
supply of labour, as in the case of the last
war, and of raw materials such as wolfram
(depending on the extent to which communications
remained open), but they could of course
contain a large number of Japanese troops in
China and so prevent or hamper Japanese action
against our possessions in the South Seas.
Arrangements with the Chinese Government,
however, could only be made in the light of
conditions existing at the time, and it is
clear that the Chinese proposals could only come
into consideration once we were sure that Japan
would be actively opposed to us.
8.
I propose, therefore, if the Chinese having reverted
again has
Ran
Ambassador reverts to the subject, inform
bum that the situation in the Far East has not
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yet/
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NOTHING TO
BE
WRITTEN
IN
THIS
MARGIN.