CO129-580-1 Sino-Japanese War- handing over of suspected terrorists to Japanese authorities 1-5-1939 - 24-8-1939 — Page 58

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government, and should be

returned to the Foreign Office if not required for official use.

58

(F.5785/1/10)

To: JAPAN.

Code telegram to Sir R. Crai ie (Tokyo),

Foreign Office, 15th June, 1939.

No. 289. (R).

0000

5.45 p.m.

83

IMPORTANT.

692

1. Your telegram No. 556 [of the 14th June:

Tientsin terrorists].

The legal rights of the matter are set out in my

telegram No. 287 and are those which would have been

maintained by the Japanese themselves before these

hostilities.

2. You should continue to press our proposals for an advisory committee by whose advice we should be willing to abide, as demonstrating our reasonableness in contrast to the exaggerated demands now advanced by the Japanese

Military authorities in North China.

3. You can point out that the latter amount to

demanding that we should abandon our neutrality in this conflict and openly side with Japan in her attempted conquest and exploitation of China. If this is seriously

meant, it must create a situation of extreme difficulty,

as Japanese Government must realise that His Majesty's

Government will not, under pressure of this kind, be

disposed to orange their general line of policy which is

in line with that of other Powers.

Repeated to Shanghai No. 432 and Tientsin No. 57.