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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
Printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence. March 1927.
126
SECRET.
Copy No.
784-B.
(Also Papers Nos. C.O.S. 69 and C'.P. 110 (27).)
COMMITTEE OF IMPERIAL DEfence.
THE SITUATION IN CHINA, MARCH 29. 1927.
REPORT BY THE CHIEFS OF STAFF.
IN accordance with the instructions of the Prime Minister, which reached us yesterday afternoon, we submit herewith a fresh appreciation regarding the protection of British interests in China, drawn up in the light of the most recent information.
2. The situation has changed considerably since we last reported on the subject. Amid a number of uncertain and disquieting factors there is one important respect in which the situation from a military point of view has developed to our advantage, and we wish to draw attention to this at the very outset of our Report.
3. Up to the present time our diplomacy has suffered from the fact that we possessed few, if any, means of bringing pressure to bear on the Cantonese Government. The means which did exist, such as the bombing of Canton, were of doubtful value and uncertain effect. In these circumstances the agreements made with the Nationalist Government have proved worthless, and it is only under the protection of armed forces that our nationals are able to live in any sort of safety in China.
4. This situation exists no longer. The last remnant of the armies of North China has retired to the north of the Yangtse and the Cantonese are in occupation of the territory south of the River. Freed from the complication of the presence of the Northern forces, we are now in a position to take such action as we think fit along the river against the Cantonese. The period of lowest water has passed, and already it is possible for the British Fleet or for an international Fleet to stop all traffic on the river from Shanghai to Hankow-a distance of 600 miles. The result of such action on our part, combined (if the Powers consent) with a blockade of the approaches to Canton, would be not only to produce all the economic pressure of a blockade on the permanent effects of which opinions differ-but, in addition, to prevent the Cantonese armies from crossing the Yangtse in pursuit of their Northern enemies. In any further advance the lines of communication of the Cantonese forces must cross the Yangtse and are at the mercy of our sea-power. The manner in which Naval power can be exploited on the Yangtse, and the moral effect of strong action on the Cantonese, are well illustrated by the recent case of the S.S. Kiangwe. This ship, sailing from Kiukiang to Hankow, was stopped by the Cantonese, who embarked 2,500 troops and sent her back to Kiukiang.
Here a British destroyer, H.M.S. "Wild Swan," intercepted her at Collinson Island, anchored her, disarmed the 2.500 soldiers and put them on shore.
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5. We are aware that it is not the policy of His Majesty's Government to interfere in any way in the civil war in China, and we do not suggest anything of the kind. We feel bound, however, to point out that the international Powers in China, or His Majesty's Government separately, now have it in their Power to prevent the Cantonese armies from advancing to the northward and repeating at
[15949B]