CO129-579-13 Sino-Japanese War- proposal to establish high explosives factory in Hong Kong 20-4-1939 - 21-6-1939 — Page 14

14

which states that:-

"A neutral Power is not bound to prevent the

"export or transit on behalf of one or other of the

"belligerents, of arms, munitions, or in general of

"anything which can be of use to an army or fleet. 11

It is therefore clear that on legal grounds there is

nothing to prevent the private commercial export of

explosives from Hong Kong to China.

3.

As regards the political aspect of the question,

it has always been the policy of neutrals in past wars to

allow the export of ordinary munitions to belligerents,

and this policy is, in general, in our favour, since we

normally have command of the seas. On this account we

object to the United States neutrality legislation, on

the grounds that it is contrary to our interests and that

it places a premium on aggression. If therefore we were

to depart from the policy of allowing the export of

ordinary...