FO371-23517 — Page 111

see F. 2882/2072/10

SECRET.

E.....

Page 111

13024

25 MAR 1939

CO

8

The Chinese Ambassador called on the Secretary of State

on the 27th instant, on the instructions of his Government,

and spoke in the following sense.

The Ambassador referred to a conversation which he had

had with Mr. Howe on the 22nd regarding the suggestion that

the Chinese and British Governments should consult together

with a view to joint collaboration in the Far East in the

event of war. Since then the Ambassador had received further

instructions from his Government to submit the following plan

of collective action by China and Great Britain for the

defence of their possessions and interests in the Far East.

The Ambassador stated that from the beginning of the

Sino-Japanese hostilities the Chinese Government had taken

the view that Japanese aggression against China was not merely

an attempt to secure the political and economic domination of

China, but was only the first step in a plan to destroy

western influence in the Far East and to obtain a paramount

position in that region and in to the Western Pacific.

The domination of China was only the first step in the

implementation of the plan of campaign which was set out in

the famous Tanaka Memorandum, which held the same place in

the minds of the Japanese as Hitler's "Mein Kampf" had in the

minds of the Nazi leaders of Germany.

It is evident that, in the event of war breaking out in

Europe, the colonial possessions of Great Britain and France

and their lines of communication would be seriously endangered

if the present state of affairs in the Far East is allowed to

continue and Japanese activities, such as for example the

occupation of Hainan Island, are allowed to go on unchecked.

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