31133
NO DISTRIBUTION.
Decypher.
Sir R. Craigie, (Tokyo).
June 2nd, 1939.
D.
11.15. p.m.
June 2nd, 1939.
R.
9.30.a.m. June 3rd, 1939.
No. 507.
-o0o-
(25)
(3)
IMPORTANT.
Your telegram No. 419 to Shanghai.
I fully appreciate extreme difficulty of this, particularly
in the light of British public opinion.
Nevertheless I would
once again urge the following considerations:
1. hile evidence that the four men mentioned in para-
n
graph 2 are implicated in the two murders may not be conclusive
they are known to be members of terrorist gang and in receipt of
pay from the 9th Route Army (Tientsin telegrams 13 to Chungking
and 180 to Foreign Office). As members of gang in Concession
they have presumably not been inactive.
2. Such cases would appear to fall under general principle
laid down in your telegram No. 94 to Chungking of May 8th,
namely, "persons against whom there is reasonable evidence that
their activities are directed towards terrorist acts such as
assassination". To? jeopardize] Concession by refusing to
hand over the four men, for the sole reason that they had no
prior warning that this principle was to be applied, would to my
mind be most unfortunate.
3. I do not believe the Japanese will walk into the
Concession tomorrow, but I consider that if they meet with
refusal now to hand over all four men mentioned in paragraph 2
a series of repressive measures will be put progressively into
effect, which will gradually make things impossible and might
lead.......
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