Hong Kong and Weihaiwei are treated as exposed positions that Britain could not expect to hold against Japan through their own defences alone. The proposal therefore asks whether Britain could finance and supply Chinese forces to create an outer defensive layer. A coastal fort on the Shandong peninsula could use 15-inch or 13.5-inch guns sold from deactivated British battleships. British engineers could help install the guns and train their operators. An attacker would then have to overcome Chinese positions before reaching the British base, while the arrangement could be presented as an arms sale.
Notable Point · 1:43:33-1:46:29
Foreign defensive buffers around exposed imperial bases
British finance, surplus guns, and engineering aid could encourage neighbouring states to create outer defensive layers around vulnerable bases without direct British fortification.