CO129-579-13 Sino-Japanese War- proposal to establish high explosives factory in Hong Kong 20-4-1939 - 21-6-1939 — Page 16

by ships running the blockade. As we are already

experiencing great difficulties with the Japanese

authorities in connexion with alleged terrorist

activities in the British controlled areas in Tientsin

and Shanghai, if we were to allow Hong Kong to become a

distributing centre, for the smuggling of even small

quantities of munitions for the use of Chinese guerrillas,

ve should be likely to have even more trouble. Further,

the stopping of British shipping accused of carrying war

material for the Chinese Government has already given rise

to great difficulties. The establishment of an explosives

factory at Hong Kong might well serve to lend an air of

plausibility, however spurious, to the pretexts of the

Japanese authorities for interfering more frequently

than they already do with British shipping on the high

seas.

I...

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