CO129-496 - Public Offices - 1926 — Page 29

2365/26.

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In considering this action, it is necessary to bear in mind that the Government of Canton has not been recognised in any way as a goverment by His Majesty's Government, and also that the proposed blockade of Canton is not intended as an act of war, but merely as a method of applying coercion in order to oblige the Canton authorities to desist from

illegal action in attempting to interfere with the liberty of

foreign vessels to exercise their treaty rights of trade at

Canton,

It should not be overlooked in the first place that, if

this action is taken, any member of the League of Nations,

including China herself, would be entitled to bring the matter

before the Council under paragraph 2 of article 11 of the

Covenant. If the action taken at Canton were a joint action

with one or more of the other great Powers, there would be

less risk of embarrassment at the Council and less danger

of an attempt to isolate His Majesty's Government. Un the

other hand, it would be difficult for the Peking Government to

protest at the Council against such action by the Powers at

Canton, because it would be clear that the action was rendered

necessary by the failure of that Government to put an end to

illegal action in its own territory. Ilevertheless, for the

reasons given in paragraph 3 of the Foreign Office letter of

January 28th, Sir Austen Chamberlain thinks that an appeal by

China to the League, however ill-founded, would merely add

complication to an already baffling problem and ought not

lightly to be provoked.

In the second place, it is true that were

a pacific blockade declared there would probably be no

difficulty in dealing with the ships of such Powers as

joined/