What Future in China ?
The steady deterioration in the position of British firms trading in China no doubt had to be formally recognised at some time. The Note delivered by the British Charge d'Affaires to the Peking Government on Monday, announcing the decision of the firms to close down, gave some sort of official recognition to a process that has been going on for years. Exactly what sort of recognition it is depends still on the reaction of the Peking Government. They may decide to take no more notice of it than they have of the British Government's original notice of recognition (which still remains unacknowledged) or of the tentative enquiries which followed the alleged protestations of a wish to trade made by the Chinese delegates at the recent Moscow economic conference. It is even possible that the remaining firms (one or two have already quietly wound up their affairs and departed) will he squeezed even harder by the Communist officials. In any case there is no point in pretending that either the traders or the British Government have any real control of the situation. Whether the remaining British firms are allowed to dispose of their immovable assets, whether their employees are allowed to depart without trouble, and whether some new smaller and more com- pact association is allowed to take over all British trade with China (trade in China being abandoned), all depends on the will and pleasure of Peking. The attitude of the British business houses has been realistic enough. The statement made by Mr. John Keswick, of Jardine, Matheson & Co., was particularly sensible—pointing out as it did that there has been no sudden reversal of policy and that all hope of further trade with China is not dead.
