REQUEST for the adoption by the French authorities of effective and appropriate measures to prevent the abuse and the utilization of the French flag and of French property by the Chinese armed forces, both regular and irregular, was made on Tuesday by the Japanese authorities here to their French colleagues.
This demarche was prompted by the ascertainment by the Japanese naval authorities in the field of cases where Chinese troops engaged in military operations against their forces at Chefoo and at Wuchengchen did so under the protection of the French flag or by utilizing the flag for tactical purposes.
It should be recalled in this connection that on October 25, 1938, the Japanese authorities drew the attention of the French authorities to the fact that on October 23, 1938, a Japanese naval aeroplane had been subjected' to fire at a point above Hankow from a vessel carrying Eh nese troops which was in tow of a chip flying the French flag.
At that time, the Japanese authorities announced that, in the future, any vessel flyigy the French flag transporting Chinese combatants or attacking the Japanese forces, would be subject to Japanese attack. The responsibility for the consequences of such action could not be borne by the Japanese Government, Simultaneously, a request was made to the French authorities to take effective and appropriate measures to prohibit the abuse of the French flag by the Chinese military forces.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.