Coll 5/52 ‘Aviation: German Service to Far East’ [‎78v] (161/1246)

2
service to Kabul. It seems, therefore, expedient to acquiesce in this service with
aS g Tllrnwh Ue JoUowingon the conversation between the Secretary of State for Air
and General Milch on the 18th October last recorded in C.I.D Paper No. 1360-B,
the German Government have, on the 12th March submitted an official a p p Ii ca .
tion to His Maiesty’s Government for transit facilities on the usual route
across India and Burma for a German air service to the Far East, with a V
terminus for the present at Bangkok. It will be remembered that one of our
obiects in deciding to offer the Germans facilities on the Indian route was
to divert them, if possible, from developing the Central Asianroute via Afghanistan
and Sinkiang to link up with the Japanese m the Far^ East. Although
the Germans are starting flights via Tehian to Kabul, while simultaneously
applying to us for facilities on the southern loute across India and Burins
for a service following the coast of the 1 eisian Gulf, it may be hoped
that the grant of the latter facilities would greatly diminish any incentive which
they might otherwise have for pressing on with the development of the difficult
Central Asian route to the Far East. The question, however, arises whether it
would be politic to make the grant of transit facilities on the Indian route
conditional on the abandonment by the German Government of the Central Asian
route or to state our c ‘ understanding ’ ’ that the German service across India
would be in substitution for the service originally contemplated to the Far East
via Sinkiang. This aspect of the question has been exhaustively examined by the
Foreign Office, the Air Ministry and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , and as a result it is felt
by the Air Ministry and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. that in the altered circumstances it would
be desirable, for the following reasons, to grant the German request without
referring to any such condition or “ understanding ” : —
(1) It is no longer practicable to oppose a German service as far as Kabul;
(2) In present circumstances, in view of Soviet influence in Sinkiang and
the physical difficulties of flying across the Pamirs, especially in
winter, there is little likelihood that the Germans will, in fact, be
able to extend their Afghan service across Sinkiang, at any rate for
some time to come;
(3) To ask the Germans to give up the idea of such a service is therefore
unnecessary at the present time, and it would detract from the value
of our offer of facilities in India and Burma as a gesture of goodwill
to the German Government;
(4) If the offer of these facilities were made in any way conditional on the
relinquishment of any German plans for flying in, or through,
Afghanistan, it would be necessary beforehand to inform the Afghan
Government of the condition (otherwise they might easily hear of it
first from the Germans), and the Afghan Government would be very
likely to resent our bargaining with a third Power in a matter which
they would regard as primarily their own concern;
(5) It is to our ^advantage to encourage the Germans to build up “vested
inteiests on the Indian route which Great Britain could control in
case of war;
(6) An unconditional offer still seems the best means of diverting the
Germans from any future intention of developing the Sinkiang route
m co-operation with the Japanese;
(7) The adoption of this course might create German goodwill and enable
us to secure reciprocal facilities from them in other quarters when
lequue 01 the development of British Air Services. This might be
o pai icu ai value in promoting co-operation forthwith between
mperia a mvays and Eurasia (a Sino-German concern) in China.
delav^bv^Tbi K ^ es j ra ^] e in order that a reply may be sent without
12th' March for iho t',"'*'? A C ' erman Government’s application of the
unoualified ennfJA t f a P s - Ind . la Service. Otherwise much of the value of an
unqualified consent to this service as a bargaining counter will be lost.
(Initialled)
May 9, 1938.