No. 892
(F 3024/9889|10)
SECRET
Page 124
Q
18
FORSIGN OFFICE, S. 7. 1.,
14th April, 1939.
с
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is Excellency
sir,
I enclose a copy of a despatch which I am
addressing to H.M. Ambassador at Shanghal on the
subject of a suggestion which the Chinese Abassador
in London was recently instructed to put to me for
collective action between Great Britain and China
in defending their possessions and interests in the
Far East.
2. M. Cambon, of the French Embassy, has now
informed me of the parallel approach made to the
French Government by the Chinese Ambassador in Paris.
The French Government, he said, were thinking of
returning as sympathetic a reply as possible, though
naturally they were alive to all the difficulties
inherent in giving effect to any such scheme. They
desired to know on what lines .. Government were
replying to the Chinese Ambassador in London and
they enquired whether H.M. Government thought that
there might be some advantage in endeavouring to
interest the United States Government in the Chincse
suggestions. The French Government were inclined to
think that although the Chinese sche e, as propounded,
was probably unworkable, it might be found to contain
practical elements which might form the basis for an
exchange of views with the United States Government
or even for some general arrangement providing for
regular consultation between the four Governments.
The Right Honourable Sir E. Phipps, G.C. M.G., C. V.0.,
etc., etc., etc.
3./
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