CO129-585-9 Sino-Japanese conflict- Chinese custom stations 14-7-1940 - 17-12-1940 — Page 23

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KOWLOON CUSTOMS QUESTION.

POSITION IN AUTUMN OF 1939:

On 2nd October, 1939, the Japanese Consul-General at Hongkong presented the Kowloon Commissioner with the following demands:-

(1) Kowloon Customs and all its branches to be put under the control and supervision of the Japanese Army Authorities in Kwangtung;

(2) Occupied Area tariffs to be enforced;

(3)

(4)

Revenue collection to be deposited in Yokohama Specie Bank; and

No withdrawal to be made from Yokohama Specie Bank except to meet local administrative expenses, which amount to be agreed upon by Consul General.

The Japanese Consul-General maintained that as it was possible to enforce submission under force majeure at the Stations situated in Chinese territory the real Kowloon District) it should also be accepted as applicable to the Head Office situated in the Colony of Hongkong, and that refusal to comply with demands would endanger the integrity of the Customs Service as a whole.

The attitude adopted by the Hongkong Government in this connection was that they were not directly concerned, but that they were naturally interested in anything indirectly affecting the interests of the Colony.

The Inspector General's attitude was that as only a part of the Frontier was occupied Namtao to Shatowkok - excluding Mirs Bay, which was not occupied - the question should be held in obeyance and re-considered at a later date in the event of the Japanese Author- ities being in permanent occupation of the whole Frontier, when it would be within their competence to re-open the Frontier Stations and impose their authority through an occupied port.

The Japanese Consul-General dissented, and evidently desired control over the Head Office in Hongkong rather than the actual Frontier Stations as a matter of "face" and window-dressing for home consumption in Tokyo.

The Inspector General pointed out that while they could compel him to place the revenue collection in an occupied port or area in the Yokohama Specie Bank on threat of seizure, they could not properly do so in a foreign colony; nor was he prepared to surrender the control of unoccupied Customs establishments situated in Free China to alien Authorities.

never

A deadlock was thus reached, but the question became acute, the Japanese presumably being unwilling to risk incurring the displeasure and possible action of Great Britain and the Interested Powers"; and, moreover, the whole Frontier was not permanently occupied by the Japanese military forces.