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of previous assistance to China. In reply to His Majesty's Ambassador's enquiry the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated on the 24th July that Baron Hiranuma's statement had been quite informal and in part incorrectly reported.
In fact Mr. Chamberlain made it clear in the House of Commons on the 17th July and again when he announced the text of the formula that there could be no question of a change in British policy at the dictation of a foreign Power and that the formula The amounted simply to a recognition of a situation existing in fact. formula was communicated in advance to the Chinese Government on the 23rd July, together with an oral communication from Sir A. Clark Kerr on the same lines as Mr. Chamberlain's two statements.
243. Agreement having been reached on this point, an energetic start was made with the detailed discussions. At the first meetings of the United Kingdom and Japanese delegates on the 24th July Mr. Kato put forward the Japanese agenda, consisting of twelve points, eight of which related to police measures and the remaining four to economic questions. The first eight points were referred on the same day to a fact-finding committee which subsequently reported on the actual situation at Tientsin, and on the detailed respects in which the Japanese would wish to see it changed. Good progress was made at the third and fourth meetings of the conference on the 26th. Private talks between members of the two delegations proceeded concurrently on the questions of the four alleged terrorists, of Ssu Ching Wu and the three other Chinese interned with him, and of Li Han-yuan and other alleged anti-Japanese elements in the British Municipal Police. A provisional solution of all these problems had been reached by the 30th July, in return for which it was understood that General Muto, the principal Japanese military delegate, would be willing to assure that there would be a material improvement in the situation at Tientsin. With the assistance of Mr. Dennis, chief of the British Municipal Police, who had left for Tokyo on the 28th July, it was possible by the end of the month to reach provisional agreement on all points raised in items 1 to 8 of Mr. Kato's agenda, except for one question of detail (subsequently cleared up) regarding the exact number of Japanese gendarmes, who were to be stationed in the British Concession as observers. The British negotiators were successful in maintaining the principle that all executive functions within the concession must be carried out by the British Municipal Police.
244. Less satisfactory progress was made with the economic discussions. The question of currency was broached at the afternoon meeting of the 27th July, at which the Japanese negotiators requested a prohibition of the circulation of fapi in the concession. On the morning of the 28th the question of the silver deposited in Chinese banks in the British Concession was discussed, with equally little result, and at the end of the month His Majesty's Ambassador was still awaiting instructions from the Foreign Office on both subjects.
245. Close contact had been maintained by Sir Robert Craigie with his United States and French colleagues throughout the month. Meanwhile His Majesty's Government had been endeavouring to enlist the co-operation of the two Governments concerned in regard to the economic issues under discussion at Tokyo. On the 15th July the United States Government stated in reply to a British enquiry that they must regard the currency question at Tientsin as a local issue connected with the administration of the British Concession and that they could offer no advice on the subject. On the 27th July the French Government, in response to a similar British enquiry, instructed their ambassador at Tokyo to support Sir Robert Craigie on the currency and silver questions, and they moreover informed the United States Government of their action. On the 29th His Majesty's Government made a further approach to the United States Govern- ment, urging them to make clear to the Japanese Government that the question of currency was of concern to them. On the following day His Majesty's Ambassador, Paris, was instructed to inform the French Government of this approach and to ask whether they would instruct their ambassador at Tokyo to inform the Japanese Government that they were not prepared to agree to an arrangement regarding which they had not been first consulted, a request to which the French Government acceded on the 1st August. Meanwhile, the United States Government on the 31st July instructed their chargé d'affaires in Tokyo to continue to show to the Japanese Government their interest in broader phases of the Tientsin question, including the currency issue. They indicated, however, that they were not particularly interested in the silver question,
Anti-British Activities in Japan.
246. The press campaign against Great Britain, led by the Hochi, a paper believed to be closely connected with the German Embassy, continued and reached a climax about the middle of the month. There were hostile demonstrations in front of His Majesty's Embassy on the 7th July, the second anniversary of the outbreak of the incident, and again on the 14th, 16th, 17th and 31st. Similar meet- ings were organised throughout the country. Attempts were made to intimidate the staff of His Majesty's Embassy, and to induce them to leave its service; for instance, the Japanese lady telephone operator was rung up and informed that she ought to be killed, while the press published an interview with the nephew of the embassy gatekeeper, now fighting on the China front, who stated that he was ashamed of his uncle. One Tokyo theatre displayed notices stating that hostile Britons would not be admitted. At the height of the agitation, however, the vernacular papers published statements to the effect that in spite of everything the military attaché was still popular in Japan, and they enlarged on Major- General Piggott's fondness for eels and rice, a Japanese national dish.
Detention of Colonel Spear.
247. On the 4th July His Majesty's Ambassador made further energetic representations to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the subject. On the 13th July, on receipt of news that it was proposed to try Colonel Spear before a military tribunal, Sir Robert Craigie took the question up with the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, complained of the fact that no official notice of this new decision had been received, and requested the necessary facilities for a British language officer, whom he proposed to send to Kalgan to establish touch with Colonel Spear. On the 26th the question was raised by the military attaché with the Director of Military Operations. In spite of these representations Colonel Spear was still detained at the end of the month.
Tsingtao.
In
248. The current anti-British agitation in North China assumed serious proportions at Tsingtao, where there was an anti-British riot on the 11th July, while on the 14th two bombs were thrown at His Majesty's Consulate. addition to the general representations made to the Japanese Government on the subject in connexion with the Tientsin conversations, His Majesty's Ambassador took up the specific question of Tsingtao in a letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 8th July and again with the Vice-Minister on the 13th. On the 16th Mr. Acting-Consul Pilcher was despatched from Osaka to assist His Majesty's Consul at Tsingtao.
Group Captain Bryant's Visit to China.
249. In the course of the month Group Captain W. E. G. Bryant, Air Attaché to His Majesty's Embassy, accompanied by Major Stables, language officer, and other foreign service attachés from Tokyo, made a tour of the battle- fields in the territory occupied by the Japanese in China.
Malaya.
British Empire.
250. On the 31st July two battalions of Indian troops arrived at Singapore. These were understood to represent the beginning of a substantial reinforcement of the British forces in the Malay Peninsula.
Canada.
251. On the 3rd July the Canadian Chargé d'Affaires made representations to the Japanese Government regarding the bombing of a Canadian Mission building in China.
United States of America.
Abrogation of Commercial Treaty.
252 Anti-Japanese feeling was reported to be rising throughout the United States during the month. After two abortive attempts to pass anti-Japanese legislation through Congress, the first being Senator Pittman's motion of the
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