SECRET
219
CABINET 1(27)
Extract from Conclusions of a Meeting held at 10 Downing Street, on Wednesday, January 12th, 1927, at 3.45.p.m.
CHINA
(Previous Reference: Cabinet 65 (26)
Conclusions 4 and 5.)
2. The Cabinet had before them the
following documents in regard to the present
situation in China :-
A Memorandum by the Lord President of
the Council (Paper C.P.3 (27)):
A Report by the Chiefs of Staff Sub-
Committee of the Committee of Imperial
Defence (Paper C.P.4(27));
The Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs made a statement to the Cabinet on
the recent events in China, and more
particularly in regard to the manoeuvres by
which the Nationalist Government of South China
had obtained possession of the British Concession
at Hankow, a contingency which there had been no
reason to anticipate when the Cabinet last met.
At first the withdrawal of the naval forces from
the Hankow Concession had given the impression
of a grave blunder. Later communications,
however, and more especially those of the Rear-
Admiral, indicated that the notion of the Re ar-
Admiral and the Consul had averted a great
disaster. The mob at Hankow (probably incited
by the Nationalists) had been so violent as to
be controllable only by the use of firearms.
But the military forces of the South China
Nationali at Government were at hand, and it was
probable that, if fire had been opened, they
would