CO129-563-5 Macao- relationship with Hong Kong 6-7-1937 - 13-12-1937 — Page 37

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2.

of your telegram under reference.

5.

With his background of half a lifetime spent in

Macao Dr. Barbosa, perhaps unlike his Government at Lisbon,

seems to me to be refusing to allow the present Sino-

Japanese conflict to overshadow the one fundamental problem

that is perpetually with us in these regions. In its

philosophical form as set forth by the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen

this may be politely described as Chinese irredentism; but

it includes a number of ugly things of the kind that are to

be expected where a grossly overpopulated nation sees in its

midst or at its fringes a few areas where, in contrast to

China proper, wealth is allowed to accumulate.

6.

This is the volcano on the brink of which life

must be lived in China, whether in the Colonies or the Con-

cessions or the Settlements. In the case of Macao it has

for centuries taken the form of frontier disputes and occasional

frontier skirmishes. But on a recent occasion when some Kuangsi

troops were entrenching themselves uncomfortably near his

border Dr. Barbosa tells me that he made a protest to Nanking

and was gratified to find that this protest took effect.

is, I believe, not at all in accordance with tradition.

7.

This

From this point of view a unified China with some

sort of control over Chinese armed forces seems to me to be

some thing that should be welcomed not only by Macao but by all

foreign interests in China; and I venture to suggest that

Japan's declared antagonism to a strong central government

deserves all possible opposition even on these grounds alone.

8.

Whether the further stage of a China not only

unified but fully armed according to modern standards would

be equally welcome is a much larger question about which the

interested Powers will doubtless in due course concern

themselves.