(F.1787/150/10).
NO DISTRIBUTION.
Cypher telegrain to Sir R. Craigie, (Tokyo).
Foreign Office. February 24th, 1939.
10.p.m.
No. 96.
---o0o-
95
50
Canton telegrain No. 11 [of the 2nd February; notification as regards flight of Third Power aircraft over Wai chow Island].
Considerable inconvenience is caused to aircraft of
Imperial Airways by compliance with this request.
It is further
extremely undesirable to allow Japanese to proceed without further question to delimit zones in which British aircraft may
You should therefore or may not fly in areas important to us. make strong representations to the Government to which you are accredited, confirming those already made by mr. Blunt, and making such use as you think fit of last paragraph of my telegram No. 577 [of the 26th August last], as modified by my telegram No. 593 of the 1st September]. You should also repeat defini- tion of His Majesty's Government's attitude on this matter given in your notes to Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs of the 7th
March and 17th November.
2.
You should at the same time deliver a strongly worded protest at the attack on the "Delia" as described in Hongkong telegram No. 16 to you and in Commander-in-Chief's telegram No. 389 to you, pointing out that Japanese are kept regularly inform- ed of route and time-table followed by Imperial Airways' services and that vessel which fired at "Delia" cannot possibly have been
ignorant of her identity.
Repeated to Shanghai No. 154, Canton No. 9, Hongkong unnum-
bered and Commander-in-Chief unnumbered.