Spilling More Ink than Blood: The Royal Navy and the Preservation of Britain’s Informal Empire in China, 1929-1939

Abstract

This dissertation examines the Royal Navy as an agent of British diplomacy and imperialism in China between 1929-1939. Using archival records sourced from all echelons of the Royal Navy’s China Station, Britain’s government ministries, and other official and unofficial agents of British imperialism in the region, this work provides a new perspective from which to explore the nature of British policy in East Asia during a decade of regional instability and crises. Faced with challenges ranging from rampant piracy to violent Japanese imperial expansion, the China Station was tasked with preserving their nation’s empire in China during an era of professed liberal internationalism and severe strategic overstretch. Given these realities, China Station personnel found themselves relying less on material strength and coercion in favour of negotiation, diplomacy, and compromise with a myriad of geopolitical players cohabiting East Asia.

British policymakers entered the 1930s with a sense of optimism – the rise of the Guomindang’s Nanjing regime having promised a unified and stable Chinese market for the British to influence and exploit. However, this optimism would not last long as continued Chinese regional instability disrupted British trade, while mounting Japanese continental aggression threatened to dismantle Britain’s informal empire entirely. Recognizing the China Station as “the principle military adviser to his Majesty’s Government” on the preservation of British lives and property in China, Whitehall gave that command a remarkable amount of operational autonomy with which to respond to events and challenges as they unfolded. With little recourse to force for want of material strength, the China Station collaborated with other regional state and non-state actors in disseminating defense responsibility and pursued a pragmatic diplomacy backed by little more than the waning prestige previously accumulated by the British Empire in the region. Through examining the China Station’s experience in the 1930s, one is given an impression of the possibilities and limitations of what can be achieved through local negotiation, compromise, and the invocation of prestige during a decade of global instability and transformation.

Building on previous scholarly works concerning Foreign Office and Treasury initiatives aimed at the preservation of Britain’s informal imperial sphere during the 1930s, the work explores how China Station personnel – as the primary representatives of British military power in China –interpreted and executed their role as arbiters of Britain’s imperial and diplomatic policies in a region undergoing political, economic, and social evolution. Furthermore, the dissertation contributes to general studies of geostrategic policy by providing a case study regarding the adaptability of geographically peripheral naval forces in shifting their methods and doctrines when faced by material stringency amid a climate of regional and global instability.