CO129-580-2 Sino-Japanese War- British policy and reactions in Hong Kong and Malaya 27-7-1939 - 3-2-1940 — Page 38

NOTHING TO

BE

WRITTEN

IN THIS MARGIN.

38

6

alter their decision brought no encouraging

results (Shanghai telegram No. 1383 of 16th

December}. On 17th December the Foreign Office

telegraphed [Foreign Office telegram No. 1227 to

Shanghai] regretting the attitude of the Chinese

Government, and suggesting that Sir A. Clark Kerr

should proceed to Chungking to put the matter in

person to Chiang Kai-shek. The lines on which

he was instructed to argue were that the

heutralisation of the bulk of the silver together

with the use of a small proportion for urgent

relief amongst the suffering Chinese population

was a solution which could be reasonably accepted

by the Chinese Government because it seemed in

no way to affect their vital interests or involve

the sacrifice of any of the principles for which

they were fighting. By preserving the integrity

of the concession at a time when the Chinese

Government were powerless to do so, the British

municipal council had contributed as much to the

interests of the Chinese as to their own. -In

resisting