CO129-563-17 Sino-Japanese War- attacks on shipping. For extracted photographs see CN 3-12 27-9-1937 - 17-1-1938 — Page 13

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by the Japanese would be the end of British

prestige in the Far East. It was left to be

understood that the Admiralty would take this

up.

I must say that in my view the whole

were unduly defeatist discussion and the conclusions reached on the

particular issue of the present instance of

the infringement of Hong Kong's sovereignty

by the Japanese warship, which fired on the

"Chah Sing" while in Hong Kong waters and

then proceeded to send in a party of armed men

to take the vessel off Hong Kong soil and

remove it to the high seas after having done

a little looting of property near the foreshore,

was unduly defeatist. While it was at least

generally admitted that the Japanese had no

right to take the law into their own hands and

act as they did, the fear of provoking the

Japanese and the ignominious prospect of one

of H.M.'s ships in Hong Kong waters having to

decline any risk of conflict with an invading

Japanese warship were accepted as justifying a

fairly invertebrate conclusion. It seems to me

to assume that the Japanese are looking for the

first excuse to pick a serious quarrel with

Great Britain, whereas our information does not

in fact bear this out. In the general opinion

of the meeting, anything in the way of "bluff”

on our part was out of the question. There is,

of course, a certain element of risk in asserting

the British position at Hong Kong or anywhere

else in present circumstances, but I cannot

believe that either the Japanese or the Chinese

are likely to be impressed, or British prestige

in