CO129-502-6 China- general situation 7-1-1927 - 3-3-1927 — Page 125

Moderates had triumphed and had succeeded in

defeating Borodin. At present victory lay with the

Bolshevike.

139

The proposal considered by the Cabinet were as

follows:-

That a telegram should be sent to Sir Miles Lampson

and Mr.O'Malley, instructing the latter, if the former

agreed, to tell Eugene Chen that, if he would sign the

agreement in regard to the Hankow and Kiukiang

Concessions and would give on behalf of the Nationalist

Government a guarantee against a repetition at Shanghai

of the violence used at Hankow and Kiukiang, we in

return would stop our forces at Hong Kong and Singapore.

In the meantime the transports would be stopped at Hong

Kong.

While it was recognised that to stop our forces might

have been justifiable if the agreement had been signed,

in view of Chen's attitude and the advice of the man on

the spot, it was felt by many Members of the Cabinet that

this sourse would be regarded as a sign of weakness

and would be dangerous, The Cabinet were also informed

that it was doubtful whether the transports could be

kept at Hong Kong with the troops on board for more than

a few hours owing to the difficulty of ventilation while

the ships were stationery. To land the troops

temporarily would take time and perhaps have serious

political effects.

A variant of the above proposal was to instruct Mr.

O'Malley, subject to Sir Miles Lampson's agreement, to

tell Eugene Chen that the movement of the Indian Mixed

Brigade to Shanghai could not be stopped, but that, if

he would sign the Hankow and Kiukiang agreements and

would give guarantees and take measures to avoid and

discourage violence at Shanghai, the troopa would not be

landed.