TRADE WITH CHINA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27052, 29 May 1953, Page 9

TRADE WITH CHINA

Britain To Reply To McCarthy

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, May 28. The British Government is preparing an official reply to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s charges that British ships have been carrying Communist troops on the China coast, says the political correspondent of the “Daily Mail.” He says the statement will be issued before Parliament reassembles on June 9 “because of the need to smooth out ruffled British-American relations.”

One of the ships named as having carried Communist troops was the Charles Dickens (4869 tons). The “Daily Express” quoted a British spokesman last night as saying that the Charles Dickens was sold to a Japanese firm in 1952 and it was no longer a British ship. The “Daily Express” said the Foreign Office confirmed that there was. still one British-owned ship which may have carried Communist troops. This vessel was on what is known as “bare boat” charter to the Chinese. Under these charter terms, the hirer may decide where the ship goes and what she carries. The owners, in fact, have no further control of the ship. The ship has been plying inside Chinese territorial waters only for some years and no action can be taken by the British Government.

The Government statement is expected to make it clear that the Government is fully behind the blockade of strategic goods to China.