F 7765/130/10.
FORRION OFFICE
October 1937
148
No.
Cypher.
P.D.
Sir R. Craigie.
Tokyo.
Telegram.
Usual Distribution.
Your telegram No. 520 (of the 12th October;
Japanese threat to destroy Canton-Kowloon
railway).
If and when it becomes inevitable to return
an answer - and I rely on you to postpone the day
as long as possible it will be necessary to tell
the Japanese Government that His Majesty's
Government do not feel able to accept their
proposal. In their opinion, any undertaking to
prohibit the carriage of munitions of war from
Hong Kong to China by the Canton-Kowloon railway
would constitute intervention in favour of Japan.
For your own information: we could scarcely rely
on any undertaking given in return by the
Japanese Government that the railway would not be
damaged, since Japanese aeroplanes which have
claimed to be aiming at military objectives have
on numerous occasions dropped bombs so extremely
wide of the mark.
You must therefore play for time as long as
possible.
Addressed/
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