BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27047, 23 May 1953, Page 7

BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA

Inquiry Into Shipping

LONDON. May 21. An official inquiry is being made into the American charge that two British-owned ships based on Hong Kong transported Chinese Communist troops last year, a British Foreign Office spokesman said today. The allegation was made yesterday by one of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s investigators, Mr Robert Kennedy, a son of Mr Joseph Kennedy, a former United States Ambassador to Britain. The Foreign Office spokesman drew attention to the denial of the report issued by the owners of the vessel, Wheelock, Marden and Company, of Hong Kong. Reuter’s correspondent in Hong Kong • states that British owners and agents of the 11 British ships now trading between Hong Kong or Japan and China have no intention of withdrawing their vessels because of Senator McCarthy’s charges and inquiries. 1 All 11 ships of more than 500 tons have licences for their voyages from the Hong Kong Marine Department, which fixes heavy penalties for owners who allow strategic goods to be carried in their ships to China.

Vessels of less than 500 tons do not require licences from the British authorities.

One shipowner, saying he had every intention of continuing to charter his ships to companies trading with China, added that the trade was perfectly legitimate. The 11 ships exclude British vessels that go direct to Chinese ports from places of origin other than Hong Kong or Japan. The number of British vessels engaged in direct trade with China is not known in Hong Kong, but British shipowners and agents there believe it is considerable.