Mr. BECKETTasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that the Powers permitted soldiers in mufti of Marshal Chang Tso-lin to be concealed in the foreign concessions at Tientsin, thereby facilitating their action against the Chinese national forces and their eventual occupation of Tientsin; and what action His Majesty's Government propose to take with a view to ensuring that the sovereign rights of China shall be respected and that no foreign interference shall take place in her internal affairs?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINInquiry has been made from His Majesty's Consul-General at Tientsin, who has replied that the British concession is remote from the Chinese city, and is not concerned in these allegations. The general in command of the Kuominchun, with whom he has been on friendly terms, informed him on 23rd March that his forces were voluntarily withdrawing, in accordance with a circular telegram issued at Peking. There does not appear, therefore, to have been any foreign interference, and there certainly was none so far as His Majesty's Government are concerned.