CABINET 2(27)
Extract from Conclusions of a Meeting held at 10 Downing Street, on Monday, January 17th, 1927. at 3.0.p.m.
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CHINA
(Previous Reference: Cabinet 1 (27 Con- clusion 2.)
2. The Cabinet had before them a Report by the
Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee of the Committee of
Imperial Defence on the Situation at Canton (Paper
C.P.8(27)).
During the meeting a draft Re port by the
Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee, with special
reference to the defence of Shanghai (Paper C.P.12
(27)) was handed round.
The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
made a statement regarding the evelopment of
events in China. It had transpired, he said, in the
case of Hankow that one of the difficulties in under-
taking its defence had been that British women and
children lived outside the Concession.
Enquiry had
been made as to how far this applied to other British
Concessions. A reply had been received from Amoy
to the effect that it did apply there, and there was
no doubt that it also applied at Shanghai.
From this
it followed that in normal times our fellow-countrymen
felt it safe to live under Chinese rule outside the
Concessions, which, however, were available as â
refuge; and that in considering the defence of other
Concessions where similar conditions to those at
Hankow prevailed, the mere defence of the Concession
would not necessarily provide protection to the lives
of all our nationals or to their property.
Sir Austen Chamberlain reported that since
the last meeting of the Cabinet he had telegraphed to
Sir Miles Lampson, for information, a summery of the
Report by the Chiefs of Staff (Paper C.P.4(27))
together with the Conclusions in full. He had also