FO371-23517 — Page 119

Page 119

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shall

declared enemy we should want to assist the

can

Chinese, so far as we could, in their

struggle with the Japanese and obtain from them

Can

any help which they could give us in return.

There are not many ways in which the Chinese

could give us direct help, apart from the

supply of labour, as in the case of the last

war, and of raw materials such as wolfram

(depending on the extent to which communications

remained open), but they could of course

contain a large number of Japanese troops in

China and so prevent or hamper Japanese action

against our possessions in the South Seas.

Arrangements with the Chinese Government,

however, could only be made in the light of

conditions existing at the time, and it is

clear that the Chinese proposals could only come

into consideration once we were sure that Japan

would be actively opposed to us.

8.

I propose, therefore, if the Chinese having reverted

again has

Ran

Ambassador reverts to the subject, inform

bum that the situation in the Far East has not

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yet/

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NOTHING TO

BE

WRITTEN

IN

THIS

MARGIN.