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status of the claim. Nevertheless they also deal with various views put forward over the years as to the status of the non-occupiable parts of the whole group (these seem relevant in the context of the 1970's).
42. In 1932 the Law Officers' Department stated: "In our opinion His Majesty's claim to sovereignty over Spratly Island and Amboyna Cay in April 1930 was of so doubtful a nature that it could only be laid before the Permanent Court of International Justice with a faint prospect of success". At the end of 1933 after correspondence with the Foreign Office, the Admiralty stated:- "In view of your opinion that we are not in any way committed by implication to have accepted the general claim made by the French to all the islets, etc in the area named by them, we agree with you that nothing would be gained by taking any action with them at present. (1) With regard to the islets and reefs in the dangerous area which, as you say, are now No-Mans-Land, we considered the possibility of annexing such of these as are capable of occupation, but reached the conclusion it would be unwise to do so at the moment."
43. In December 1937 the British Government asked the French Government what in principle their attitude would be to the cession of one of their islands to the British Government if it proved possible to construct a land-plane refuelling ground unit. However this was subsequently found not to be a practical possibility. Meanwhile the question of whether there was any legal basis on which the British Government could join the French Government in making representations to the Japanese Government was discussed. It was thought probably not. "Thus the question was not so much whether we or the French had the better claim; the position was rather that we had no claim at all. Further, even if we had any claim. it must probably as a matter of law be regarded as having been washed out by our admission of the French claim". However when the Japanese Counsellor called on the Foreign Office on 31 March 1939 to announce Japanese annexation of the islands (see para 8), he was told that the British Government had put forward a claim to the islands, which had not been abandoned. This position was soon disputed within the Foreign Office and no reference to any British claim was made in answer to parliamentary question of 6 April 1939.
44. In the same year the Admiralty and Foreign Office had a further exchange of correspondence on the British claim, Japanese annexation. etc. A letter on Admiralty views sent to Tokyo in August 1939 by the Foreign Office pointed out that the Japanese reference to Spratly Islands "is, as a geographical term, extremely loose and misleading and may
(1) The main question was whether any reply to a French note about France's annexation of various islands in July 1933 should be made.
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