In any further communication on this subject, please quote
No. F 2345/G.
and address--
not to any person by name,
but to-
The Under-Secretary of State."
Foreign Office,
SECRET!
London, S.W.1.
100
54.
FOREIGN OFFICE.
15th April 1935.
(WA)
Sir,
With reference to your secret letter No.53560/35 of the 8th instant regarding reported Japanese activities in Macao,
I am directed by Mr Stanley Baldwin to state, for the informa-
tion of Secretary Sir P. Cunliffe Lister, that on the 10th instant a communication was made to the Portuguese Chargé
d'Affaires in the sense of the decision reached by the Cabine t
on the 27th ultimo (Cabinet Conclusions No.17(35)).
2. M. Fernandes was informed of the substance of the
reports which have been received and asked whether he had any knowledge of the proposed transactions. He replied that he
had none as regards Macao but that enquiries had been made by
Japanese private individuals of the Portuguese Legation at Tokyo
as to the possibility of acquiring land for settlement purposes
in Timor. Nothing more had, he said, come of this scheme as
it had been discouraged by the Portuguese Government. He
readily promised to telegraph to his Government to ascertain
what truth there was in the reports regarding Macao. At this
juncture, the hope was expressed that the project, if it proved
to be a serious one, would be nipped in the bud.
3. On the 12th instant, the Portuguese Chargé d'Affaires
stated that the Portuguese Government had "called to themselves"
the matter raised by His Majesty's Government, in order that
it might be duly studied at Lisbon. This decision, it was
explained, meant that the Portuguese Government had suspended
all further action pending an examination of the whole question;
they had not, it appeared, had previous knowledge of the case.
The Under-Secretary of State
for the Colonies.
on...
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