There was some talk about "conditions".
2.
126
I said that I disliked
the principle of definite bargaining but that what I would like to
suggest would be that, assuming Hongkong agreed to visits by
Japanese transports in principle, the arrangement should be that
they be permitted, generally speaking, whenever requested within
reason (say about once a week) and that in return we would expect
them to agree to our sailing passenger ships on a reasonable basis
of reciprocity. Should the Japanese authorities then prove
unreasonable, we would be justified in refusing agreement to further
transports. He seemed to think this a fair formula. He
volunteered definitely however that if Hongkong agreed to visits
by transports, the Japanese would agree that these transports would
carry mail to and from Hongkong.
It appears
4. He had earlier dealt with the mail grievance.
that in complete innocence, at least at Canton, mails have been
placed in British gunboats without previous arrangement with the
Japanese authorities. They had consented to movements of gunboats
and to carriage of passengers, their personal effects and necessary
stores. Had we asked for more, the Japanese authorities might
have refused and no gunboats would then have been available to carry
mails. Consequently, when they discovered that mails were being
carried they had felt that we had made a deliberate attempt to
exceed our side of the bargain and to put one over on them.
5. A third indication of a better attitude was that M. Okazaki
went out of his way to repudiate any intention on the part of the
Japanese authorities to isolate Hongkong. Calls at Hongkong were
no longer necessary to them since they had a service via Macao,
but this route was "unnatural" and they would like to scotch this
malicious untruth. The establishment of communication between
Hongkong and Canton by Japanese transports and British passenger ships would prove it untrue.
Repeated to Commander-in-Chief unnumbered, Foreign Office No. 6, British Embassy Shanghai No. 11 and Tokyo No.