5
It will be appreciated that any policy of
providing direct Government assistance raises much
larger issues than those involved in withdrawal from
the Embargo Agreement. It would obviously be
impossible for us to supply arms to any authority
in China who asked for them, whatever their political
complexion or degree of stability; hence we should
have to restrict supply to those whom we regard as
our friends. We should, therefore, have to abandon
our established policy of neutrality towards the
contending factions, and would have to justify our-
embarking on
selves in direct interference in Chinese affairs.
It is true that Japan has, from time to time, given
direct or indirect assistance to Chang-Tso-Lin,
while the French in addition to subsidising the
Governor of Yunnan are believed to have given
material assistance to the Northerners;
considerations exist in both these cases, and it
seems doubtful whether it would be wise for us to
abandon in the present fluctuating situation our
much vaunted attitude of neutrality and to swop
horses in mid stream.
but special
I suggest that we should now discuss with
the Foreign Office with a view to ascertaining what
Sir M. Lampson's and My Brenn's views are
these proposals, and what likelihood there is of
the Foreign Office being prepared to back them.
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