CO129-570-8 Sino-Japanese War- sinking of Chinese fishing boats by Japanese vessel 31-1-1938 - 22-12-1938 — Page 52

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The patrol vessel of the Imperial Navy which made

to inspect the fishing boats was not a submarine but'

a specially equipped mine-sweeper. According to

the findings of the Commission of Enquiry at Hongkong,

the conclusion was reached that this incident was

caused by an Imperial submarine but, although a

number of Imperial submarines were on the day in

question operating off the coast of Mako and later

moved to the south-east of Hongkong, there was no

Imperial submarine operating in Hongkong waters on

that day. It must therefore be inferred that the

conclusion of the Hongkong Commission of Enquiry is

incorrect.

The Imperial Government are unable to agree with

the Hongkong Commission of Enquiry's findings based

as they are only upon unilateral investigations on

the strength of the mere statements of ignorant

Chinese fishermen who know nothing about naval

vessels, and their acceptance of these absolute and

established facts,

The British Commission of Enquiry states that some

of the junks which were sunk were the property of

British subjects and that there are grounds for

supposing that some of those killed possessed

British nationality. But that these junks bore no

markings whatever to show that they were British,

that the area in which the junks were discovered

is habitually infested by pirates, and that the

junks illegally opened fire with rifles and began

the affray, are facts which render perfectly

natural the conclusion of the Imperial patrol vessel

concerned that they were either pirate ships or

armed Chinese junks.

His Majesty's Embassy's memorandum especially draws

the/