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CVII.
92
Dr. Wu Lian Teh, & Malayan Queen's Scholar and former head of the Chinese National Quarantine Service, now in Ipoh, helped to steady public opinion by the following
statement:-
"I appreciate that there have been considerable
misgivings in this country regarding the Anglo- Japanese agreement on the Sino-Japanese conflict. On the face of a Tokyo message of 23rd July, much of the news is nothing but Japanese propaganda maliciously invented and crudely worded with the main object of rousing Chinese everywhere against Great Britain. I would strongly appeal to my fellow countrymen of Malaya not to be misguided by such childish tactics. The British Government cannot be fooled in the game of politics, and whatever compromise may be made at Tokyo over the Tientsin issue, overseas Chinese may rest assured that Great Britain will never forsake China owing to the strong ties which bind China and Britain together."
On the morning of Tuesday, the 25th July, the Prime Minister's statement, made in the House of Commons on the previous day, was published in the local press. This statement of the joint Anglo-Japanese declaration drawn up by the Japanese Porcija Minister and the British Ambassador was as follows: "His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom fully
recognise the actual situation in China where hostilities on a large scale are in progress and note that, so long as that state of affairs continues to exist, Japanese forces in China have special requirements for the purpose of safeguarding their own security and maintaining public order in regions under their control, and that they have to suppress any such acts or causes as will obstruct them or benefit the enemy. His Majesty's Government have no intention of countenancing any acts or measures prejudicial to the attainment of the above-mentioned objects by Japanese forces, and they will take this opportunity to confirm their policy in this respect by making it plain to the British authorities and British nationals in China that they should refrain from such acts and measures."