4.
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self respect of Chinese whose traditions and innate sense of honesty make them dislike the idea of debt repudiation despite Bolshevik promptings. (2)
Chinese credit must be rehabilitated some day if her prosperity is to return and measures of debt consolidation now proposed will maintain the fabric of her credit against the day that her credit can be usefully employed while they will not give her any surplus security which would enable her to indulge in immediate further borrowings. (3) It will strengthen Customs administration, de-centralisation of which would be likely to multiply intrigues end exploit both external and internal (Gr. omitted) and increase forces of disruption.
Maintenance of Customs administration is therefore in cur view of first class importance in itself and is also essential to success of other two main features of our proposals, namely likin compensation and debt consolidation. We believe moreover that generally speaking Chinese who fully realise their own defencelessness against military extortion are anxious in the interests of internal credit to maintain reality of present Customs control though of course the more Chinese the façade can be made the better.
We hope that in the light of this further
explanation.....