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licenses are issued without awaiting an
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expression of the desires of the Chinese Government.
I may state, in this connection, that it is the
practice of the Department to grant, without
reference to the Chinese Government, licenses
covering shipments to China of comparatively small
quantities of small arms (such as shotguns,
revolvers and sporting rifles) for the retail
trade. During recent months shipments of this
category to Hong Kong have reached such
proportions as to cause suspicion that the articles
were not for consumption by the normal retail
trade. I, therefore, instituted an investigation
of the situation, as a result of which I am
informed that when an exporter in the United States
obtains an export license stating, on the basis
of information received from the consignee in
Hong Kong, that Hong Kong is the destination of
the shipment, the consignee may,
the consignee may, before the
shipment arrives, register with the Hong Kong police
the sales contract showing that the shipment is in
reality destined to China, and that in such cases
the shipment is considered as being in transit and
is permitted by the Hong Kong authorities to
proceed to China. Thus in the absence of any
knowledge with regard to who the actual importers
in China may be, it obviously is impossible to
determine whether the goods in question are in
reality destined for consumption by the normal
retail trade in China or whether they are to be
put to other uses with regard to which the National
Government desires to maintain effective import
control. I understand further that under the
procedure/