مجموعة ٧/٩ "تصدير الأسلحة إلى الصين" [و‎‎٢‎٠] (٧٢/٣٩)

6360/18.
1932
^ TELEGRAM from the Secre' ary of State for Dominion Affairs to the
Prime Minister of the Gcmmonwealth of Australia.
(Sent 9.0 p.m.* 12th April, 1932.)
Important.
No.27. Secret.
Your telegram 12bh April No.42 Secret. Position in this
country is that export of arms to China is subject to licence by
the Board of Trade which is only granted if corresponding import
1 licence has been issued by Chinese Government (see my telegram
Circular B No.122 of 8th August 1930). It has not been found
practicable to impose aiy further restriction and the present
dispute between China aid Japan, in the view of His Majesty’s
Government in the United Kingdom, increases rather than diminishes
the difficulty of doing so, since strict impartiality between the
two disputants would necessitate the application of any embargo to
both countries. Owing to the greater ease with which Japan can
manufacture arms, such epplication might arouse ccmplaints from
China that it in fact operated in favour of Japan. Moreover past
experience has shown the extreme difficulty of imposing any
effective check on the flow of arms into China, even when there is
an express agreement between the countries concerned to prohibit
their nationals from supplying arms to China such as the China
Arms Embargo Agreement w iich was abrogated in 1929.
the above considerations however apply to the sale of arms
from private sources. As regards Government owned arms our view
has been that though there is no legal state of war between China