CO129-504-13 Chinese situation- request from General Li Chai-sum for assistance in obtaining arms and ammunition 27-4-1927 - 6-10-1927 — Page 4

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arms to Chinese factions only to find them used later

against ourselves.

The Hong Kong case for withdrawal from the

Agreement was forcibly put by Sir C. Clementi in his

despatch of the 28th June 1926 (15074/26) and some

idea of the present traffic in arms can be obtained

from the Admiralty statistics contained in 21248/26.

The Foreign Office a year ago indicated that in the

event of a fairly stable Central Government being

established in China, they would be prepared to with-

draw from the Agreement and to allow British firms to

export arms to Chinese authorities empowered by the

Central Government to receive them. Further than

this they have been unwilling to go, though they

stated in January that they were collating informa-

tion with a view to deciding whether departure from

their present policy was justified (30005/27). They

have recently been in correspondence with Sir M.

Lampson who has been pressing them to allow Vickers

to export aeroplanes to Chang-Tso-Lin. The present

proposal is therefore opportune in that it may serve

to force the issue.

The Withdrawal from the China Arms Embargo

Agreement would not, however, be enough for Sir C.

Clementi's purposes, since withdrawal would merely

mean that British firms could enter into contracts

for the supply of arms to Chinese authorities and it

would doubtless be some time before such contracts

could be made and fulfilled. To bolster up the

moderates in Canton, assistance must be provided

without delay, and the only method to avoid delay is to authorise supplies direct from Government

sources.

This Sir C. Clementi recommends.

It