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NOTHING
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90
Registry
No. F 6859/1147/G
J.F.B.
Camut
1419
Draft.
Mr. Waldock,
Admiralty.
From Mr. Sterndale
Bennett
FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1.
September 1945.
With reference to the proposed
visits of H.M. ships to Chinese coastal
ports referred to in D.0.(45)10 of the
4th September and the minutes of the
subsequent Defence Committee meeting on
F6860/1147/5
the 7th September, I should perhaps just
mention that we have under the 1943
Treaty between Great Britain and China
relinquished our rights for visits to
Chinese waters by British naval vessels.
H.M. ships would therefore normally be
entitled to visit Chinese ports in
future only by way of courtesy calls.
This would not presumably exclude the
participation of British naval units
under American command in any Allied
operations designed to give protection
to and restore order in Chinese ports in
the period immediately following the
Japanese surrender. As regards these
operations it will be for the Americans,
I imagine, to make any necessary
arrangements with the Chinese.
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