OUTWARD TELEGRAM
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government, and should be
kept under Lock and Key.]
122
LIMITED DISTRIBUTION
F2621/26/10)
Cypher telegram to Sir R. Craigie (Tokyo)
No. 341.
Foreign Office 24th April, 1940. 2.00 a.m.
Canton despatch No. 30 to His Majesty's Embassy, Shanghai
[of 5th February: pilotage on Pearl River].
Although these regulations purport to be a temporary measure
of a military nature, they contain objectionable features which the
Japanese will probably try to perpetuate when the river is nominally
reopened to foreign shipping. The main objections are compulsory
pilotage at excessive rates contrary to treaty provisions and the
1868 pilotage regulations, and provisions designed to discriminate in favour of Japanese trade by the exemption of Japanese Government chartered vessels and the exclusion of whampoa.
2. Please consult with your United States and French colleagues, and register a formal protest with the Japanese Government against
these regulations, reserving all our rights. You should invite
your colleagues to take similar action but you need not necessarily
wait until they have received instructions to do so.
Repeated to Shanghai No: 389 and to Hongkong No.:24 (Hongkong please repeat saving to Canton)