[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] -
CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[F 1093/184/10]
No. 1.
83
[April 13, 1926.]
SECTION 1.
(No. 267.) Sir,
Sir Austen Chamberlain to Sir R. Macleay (Peking).
Foreign Office, April 13, 1926.
I HAVE given careful consideration to your despatch No. 47 of the 19th January on the subject of the China arms embargo. Your telegram No. 86 of 6464 the 3rd March has, however, already somewhat modified the views expressed in your despatch, and that in a direction which I have myself been considering (see Foreign Office telegrams Nos. 81, 85 and 92), viz., towards a relaxation the embargo 6464
calculated to enable British firms to compete with foreigners in supplying arms to a future stable and friendly Chinese Government for legitimate requirements of defence.
2. I have also considered your telegrams Nos. 98 and 99, and am inclined to agree that reference of the question to the Extra-territoriality Commission and the drafting of a convention on the subject are hardly necessary, since the Chinese law prohibiting the import of arms is already binding on British subjects under article 74 (3) of the Order in Council.
3. Meanwhile I presume that, in accordance with your telegram No. 86. a verbal message has been conveyed to Marshal Wu Pei-fu intimating that we have some such modification in view. We must, therefore, be quite clear what steps we intend to take if and when Marshal Wu himself or the Peking Government approach us again on the subject. In this event, when it is quite clear that the psychological moment has arrived and that a fairly stable Government is in power, we will proceed to replace the arms embargo by a policy of applying to British subjects the Chinese law prohibiting the import of arms and ammunition. In such a case our action will be-
(a.) To repeal the present King's Regulations.
(b.) To issue a statement to the Chinese Government and to the other Powers concerned that we propose to modify our position under the arms embargo, giving the reasons for this change in our policy.
(e.) To maintain export regulations in the United Kingdom (and to recommend their continuance in the British dominions), sanctioning only such con- signments of munitions as have permits from the Central Government for importation into China, but not such as have merely provincial permits.
4.
The difficult question of our attitude towards independent provinces will then have to be decided, but this will naturally depend upon the circumstances prevailing at that time.
5. In the meantime, the hardships from which British merchants are suffering, to which I consider that more importance should be attached than is indicated in your despatch, might be mitigated by a less rigid application of the present King's Regulations, especially in the matter of aeroplanes for commercial purposes, which I do not regard as coming within the scope of the 1919 embargo or the King's Regulations. I am indicating this interpretation to the other departments con- cerned. warning them that, whereas we are no longer attempting to regard such aeroplanes as munitions within the scope of the embargo, yet their importation is prohibited by the Chinese Government except under special licences, for which British firms should take care to apply.
6. In paragraph 5 of your despatch you suggest that legal complications might arise in the case of provincial permits being issued without reference to, or even against, the mandate of the Central Government. As indicated above. I would be disinclined, at any rate at first, to recognise the validity of any permits except those issued by the Central Government. The legal question as to whether the courts would recognise the validity of provincial permits is at the moment a purely hypothetical one, but the answer to it would depend on the interpretation which, in the circum- stances existing when it arose, the court gave to the word "law." and this would
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