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(d) British interests inland can receive no
protection unless they are on the navigable rivers. Missionaries and isolated individuals if threatened should be withdrawn to the ports.
(e) fodern gunboats should be provided for use
on the rivers in China.
(f) An increase in our military forces in the Far East is desirable so that a small reserve may be available to meet emergencio s such as the present.
(In the body of the Report we suggested that the reinforcements should consist as a minimum of an additional British and an additional Indian battalion at Hong-Kong.)
(g) For the reasons given in the Joint Note
circulated with this Report (see annexure) offensive action in China on a large scale is not possible for the British Empire acting alone, and finality could not be hoped for from any operation within our capacity. Offensive action on a large scale can only be international, and even on that basis it would probably be unprofitable, except possibly for Japan, who must be the predominant partner.
2.
In introducing this Report to the Committee
of Imperial Defence, the Chief of the Naval Staff
made the following comments:
in
"Lord Beatty said that as the defence of British interests in China had always been mainly a Naval responsibility, the situation in that country was of greater importance to the Admiralty than to the other Services. If it was correct to assume that the situation in China was so grave that an upheaval similar to the Bolshevik upheaval in Russia might take place, then it was inconceivable that any of the military measures recommended in the Report, such as the despatch of one Brigade from India, would be of any use; fact, it would probably be harmful in that it would be calculated to incite Chinese feeling against Great Britain. If military operations in China were to be undertaken, Japan was the only Power in a position to undertake such operations, and though this raised a question of big imperial policy beyond his own province, he personally was inclined to think it advisable, if the situation in China were going to deteriorate to a great extent, to ask Japan to take such action.
The Committee of Imperial Defence
recommended that in the circumstances then existing
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