[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government, and should be returned to the Foreign Office if not required for official use.]
40
72
(F.6622/3/10.)
To
CHINA.
Code telegram to Sir H. Lampson (Wei-hai-wei).
Foreign Office. 5th August, 1927.
6.00 p.m.
No. 4.
(R).
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• •
+
*
•
•
Your telegram No. 1213 (of July 31st; Shanghai
taxes).
1.
Our views do not differ so greatly as your
telegram would appear to suggest. I agree that treaty
rights which we cannot effectively protect are liable
to be abrogated by unilateral action but I do not
share your fears that tariff autonomy will endanger
the "whole fabric of the treaties" because the rights
in regard to the tariff seem to me to constitute much
the greater part of what it is possible for the Chinese
to recover by such means. I believe you share my
view that force should not be threatened if there is no
intention to use it and that protests which would be
futile unless backed by force should not be made
unless force in the last resort is really intended. I
agree that the exercise of tariff autonomy by a
regional government should be resisted by every pos-
sible means.
2. The problem of discovering what effective
action we can take if our protest against the taxes
is disregarded (see last paragraph of your telegran
No. 1115) remains still unsolved.
It is an essential
condition