50
to fall into the hands of the Northern Chinese might
merely have the effect of antagonising the Northerners,
who might be counting on utilising them for their own
purposes. If, on the other hand, the Southern Chinese
were to regain the ascendancy, it might be that the time
within which the proposed sanctions could be applied
effectively would be extremely limited, in which case,
either as Chief of the Naval Staff or as Senior Officer
of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff, it might be his
duty to warn the Cabinet of the need of an urgent decision.
In any event Lord Beatty felt that if isolated action on
our part were contemplated, a different form of sanctions was required. They ought to be applied somewhere out of
the line of the Northern advance, possibly, for example,
at Canton. He thought that the circumstances were so
changed that the whole question of sanctions ought to be
entirely re-considered.
The Cabinet accordingly agreed
"In regard to the form of sanctions:
That the Committee of Chiefs of Staff should meet to re-examine the question in the light of the present situation on the alternative hypotheses of the sanctions being undertaken by an international force or by this country alone. The Chiefs of Staff Committee were asked to keep this subject constantly under review, as the
situation changes from ime to time".
2. The military situation in China up to 10 a.m. on
April 14th is as follows:-
CIVIL WAR.
(a) The Northerners continue to make progress on
the left bank of the Yangtse. Pukow was occupied
on the afternoon of the 12th by Shantung troops, the
Nationalists withdrawing across the river to Nanking.
So far no attempt seems to have been made by
the Northerners to enter either Nanking or Chinkiang:
-2--