CO129-570-10 Sino-Japanese War- Japanese seizure of the S.S. ASIAN- claims 15-2-1938 - 12-12-1938 — Page 20

TRANSLATION

No.150.

Tokyo.

4th October, 1938.

20

Your Excellency,

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your

Excellency's Note No. 140 of the 9th September regarding the

detention of the s.8. "Asian".

I have already explained in my Note No. 79 of the

3rd June last (sic) the reasons for the detention of this

vessel and set out the views of the Japanese side on the

subject of the British demand for indemnification. In a

recent Note Your Excellency gave detailed explanations of the

serious doubts which the Imperial Naval Authorities on the

spot could naturally not fail to entertain as to the transfer

of nationality of the vessel at the time of her detention and

the Japanese side have at length come to understand fully the

true nature of this case. None the less, in spite of Your

Excellency's subsequent explanation of these serious doubts

which formed proper grounds for the detention of the vessel

in question, I do not consider that this explanation is

sufficient to establish the impropriety of the action of the

Japanese authorities who detained her on the strength of an

impartial appraisal of all the circumstances existing in the

vessel at the time of her inspection. I therefore do not

consider, as I have already stated in my Note No. 79 to which

reference is made above, that, in view of the fact that the

detention by our authorities was a reasonable measure in the

situation

His Excellency

The Right Honourable

Sir Robert Craigie, K.C.M.G., C.B.,

His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador

etc., etc., etc.

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