693.119/289: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Davis)
6187. The Legation at Peking reports the conclusion of an agreement between Vickers Limited and the Chinese Minister of War for delivery of aeroplanes accompanied by a letter by which Vickers agree to substitute 60 per cent of the order with other unspecified products if Chinese Government so desires. You are instructed to enquire whether this contract has received the approval of the British Government in view of the joint representations of the Diplomatic Body at Peking on May 5, 1919,98 to the Chinese Government [Page 673] by which the Powers agreed effectively to restrain their subjects and citizens from exporting to or importing into China arms and munitions of war and of material destined exclusively for their manufacture until the establishment of a Government whose authority is recognized throughout the whole country. You may inform the British Government that this Government has placed the broadest interpretation possible upon this understanding even to the extent of discouraging contracts by American firms for machinery and raw materials used in the manufacture of munitions, and ask what interpretation the British Government has placed thereon.