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more than doubled her naval strength and landed a large
number of reinforcements.
But before the incident the
Chinese had considerably increased the Peace Preservation
Corps which is equipped in the sane vay as, or better than,
their regular troops, and had constructed strong points of
various kinde in the ares covered by the armistice; they
were able, at any moment they wished, to cause any force
they liked to make an attack upon the neighbourhood of the
settlement; in view of the Oyams incident the Japanese
Government were responsible as Government, and from
humanitarian point of view, for making preparations for
the minimum military force necessary to protect Japanese
residents in case of necessity, and, moreover, this force
had to eroas several hundred miles of sea; and the
Japanese reinforcements which you mentioned were in the
event terribly inferior compared to the Chinese forces by
which they were surrounded. A consideration of these
facts will, I feel confident, naturally lead you to adopt
a different view.
The security of the lives and property of British
subjects in Shanghai is of course always a matter of concern
to the Imperial Government and I am glad to be able to
inform you that the Japanese forces at Shanghai, even while
they are taking defensive action in their own defence,
constantly devote their efforts as far as possible to this
end.
On 18th August Mr. Horinouchi, the Vice-Minister,
informed you in detail that the development of the situation
in Shanghai was due to Chinese sction there and that the
Imperial Government were directing all their efforts towards
peace, and I much regret to find that public opinion in
Great Britain seems to be without reliable information on
these/