846G.113/232

The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Lindsay)

Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note No. 76 of March 27, 1935, with further reference to the procedure now in force in Hong Kong in respect to the transshipment of arms to China. I greatly appreciate the cooperative attitude of your Government and of the Government of Hong Kong in dealing with this matter, and I have given careful consideration to the suggestion of the Government of Hong Kong that this Government furnish it with copies of all export licenses issued in respect to shipments of arms to Hong Kong. I am disposed to view this suggestion with favor, but before acting upon it I feel that it is necessary for me to have further [Page 722] information in regard to the procedure which the Government of Hong Kong contemplates.

Your several recent notes on the subject of restrictions upon the exportation of arms and munitions to China make it evident that your Government and this Government have the same end in view. It is clear that we both desire that such restrictions upon the exportation of arms and munitions to China may be placed in effect by the Governments of all the important arms manufacturing countries as will tend to prevent the use of these arms and munitions for the fomenting of civil disturbance in China. We desire also that there may be such practical uniformity of procedure among all the Governments concerned that these measures of supervision and control may not result in giving advantages to the manufacturers and exporters of one country which are not enjoyed by the manufacturers and exporters of other countries.

It would appear that were this Government to adopt the procedure suggested in your note under acknowledgment, the result might be, unless your Government and other Governments adopted a similar procedure, that the loophole which I pointed out in my note of January 10 might be closed in respect to arms and munitions of American origin while remaining open in respect to arms and munitions of British and other origins. I should appreciate it, therefore, if you could find it possible to inform me as to whether in case this Government were to transmit copies of export licenses to the Government of Hong Kong, that Government would apply to arms and munitions of British or other origins a procedure similar to that which would be applied to arms and munitions exported from the United States.

Accept [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
William Phillips