CO129-502-8 China- general situation 27-4-1927 - 15-9-1927 — Page 54

In

any

further communication on this subject, please quote

No. F 6780/3/10.

and address-

not to any person by name,

but to-

"The Under-Secretary of State,"

Foreign Office,

London, S.W.1.

sir,

RECEIVED 19 AUG 1927

FOREIGN OFFICE.

S.W.1.

17th August, 1927.

52

58

COL. OFFICE

(37)

(ana

alid 6:357

(40)

I am directed by Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain

to refer to your letter of the 10th August, with enclosures,

on the subject of the surtaxes which the Nanking Government

propose to levy upon foreign trade, and to state that the

views expressed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies

and the Governor of Hongkong have received his careful

consideration.

2.

Foreign Office telegram No. 488, of the 29th July,

to which you refer in your letter under reply, has been

amplified in a further telegram to Sir M. Lampson, No. 4

of the 5th August, from which it will be seen that Sir

Austen Chamberlain agreed that concerted resistance should

be offered to the proposed taxe s. Subsequent telegrams from

Shanghai and Canton, copies of which have been communicated

informally to the Colonial Office afford grounds for hope

that some success may attend the measures which have been

under discussion.

3.

Sir Austen Chamberlain is alive to the effect which

this taxation may have on the trade of Hongkong and South

China, and this aspect of the matter will continue to

receive his close attention.

4.

With reference to the suggestion as to the use of

force in the first paragraph in Sir C. Clementi's telegram,

The Under-Secretary of State,

Colonial Office.

which/