Copy.
TED FOR US.
No. M
COLONIAL
Statement by the British Aclegate.
263
The Chinese delegation, in putting forward their statement on the origin of the anti-British boycott in the Liang-kuang, have asked for our views on their presentation of this issue before proceeding further with the business
of the Confer
erence.
We should have preferred to have heard the Chinese delegation's whole case, including their proposals for a settlement, before being called on for a reply, for we feel that the sentiments they have now expressed and the answer which must inevitably be evoked from our side have already been set out in despatches exchanged between British and Chinese officials, and have been fully discussed in the press of both nations, and that to continue the discussion in this manner by the exchange
of statements intended for publication will only exacerbate public opinion and render difficult the amicable adjustment of points of difference, which it is the object of these negotiations to achieve.
If, however, the Chinese delegation feel strongly that the document read to us at the last sitting, full as it is of controversial points, an answer can and must
be made.
The Chinese statement takes the causes of the boycott
back to the incident of May the 30th in Shanghai. It is not within the province of this delegation to deal with affairs which have occurred in Central China, nor is it possible to do so adequately within the scope of a short statement, but the following are some material facts which have been omitted from the document to which this is a
reply.
to which
The Shanghai trouble arose out of labour disputes in Japanese cotton-mills, with which the British were not
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