179
86.
SECRET.
D. P. R./43rd Mtg.
Extract from the draft Minutes of the 43rd Meeting of the Sub-Committee on Defence Police and Requirements, held on 30th
September, 1937.
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ㄡ
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3.
SINO-JAPANESE DISPUTE.
MR. EDEN raised the question of the supply of armaments to the belligerents in the Sino-Japanese Dispute. Certain dispatches regarding this question had been
circulated whilst others had not. A report from Canton
indicated that General Chang Kai Shek, whilst reluctant to
accept supplies from Russia, might be forced to do so in
the event of supplies from other countries not being forth-
coming. The Soviet Government had already delivered 20 Bomber aircraft much to the alarm of Germany. The Foreign Office desired to know whether the Sub-Committee approved,
in principle, of the supply of armaments to the belligerents
in the Sino-Japanese dispute, in so far as these orders did
not conflict in any way with our own re-armament programme.
In reply to a question by the Chairman he said that if the proposition was approved in principle the
necessary arrangements would be made through the Service
Departments concerned.
In the ensuing discussion LORD SWINTON pointed out
that certain firms were accepting foreign orders for air-
craft in addition to their ordinary Government work. In
one