CHINA (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE). (Hansard, 14 July 1938)

§ Mr. Arthur Greenwood
(by Private Notice) asked the Prime Minister whether the Chinese Government have applied to 1524 His Majesty's Government for a loan, and if so, has the application been agreed to?

§ Sir J. Simon
Various proposals have been made by the Chinese Government for obtaining a loan in this country. As stated in the reply given to the hon. Member for Kingswinford (Mr. A. Henderson) on 14th April last, if in present circumstances the Chinese Government found is possible to obtain a loan from British financial institutions, any request for Government approval would be sympathetically considered. His Majesty's Government have no power themselves to grant or guarantee a loan without special legislation which, in present circumstances, they have not seen their way to introduce.

§ Sir John Wardlaw-Milne
May I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman and the Government realise the immense importance for all British interests and for peace in China of this possibility of a loan being guaranteed to the Chinese Government in some form or other at the present time?

§ Sir J. Simon
My hon. Friend can be assured that the Government have had very closely and carefully under review the considerations which he has raised.

§ Mr. A. Henderson
Will the Chancellor give an assurance to the House that the obligations incurred by His Majesty's Government when they subscribed to the resolutions passed by the League of Nations last October and in January of this year, whereby they obliged themselves to give every possible kind of assistance to China, will be carried out as far as possible by His Majesty's Government?

§ Sir J. Simon
The terms of the League of Nations resolutions to which we are a party have been very fully kept in mind.

§ Mr. Mander
Does not the Chancellor feel that, in view of all that has happened in the Far East, the claim of China to assistance in the form of a loan is at least as great as that of Turkey?

§ Sir J. Simon
The circumstances of each case, of course, have to be weighed, and the circumstances of the present case are very grave and serious; but there is the consideration, which must not be 1525 overlooked, that in the case of Turkey we were dealing with a loan to a country which is not engaged in hostilities.