CONFIDENTIAL
1.
KOWLOON WALLED CITY
The Walled City in Kowloon is neither walled nor a city. It is a small (61 acres) area of densely-packed tenement slums near Kaitak Airport, with an estimated population of some 27,000 (44,000 including Sai Tau village alongside it). The Chinese claim that the Walled City falls outside llong Kong jurisdiction. The basis of this claim is a provision in the Convention of Peking of 1898 (under which the New Territories were leased) which reads: "Within the city of Kowloon the
Chinese officials now stationed there shall continue to
exercise jurisdiction, except so far as may be inconsistent with the military requirements for the defence of Hong Kong" ·
2. The British Government unilaterally abrogated this provision by Order in Council of 27 December 1899, on the grounds that military requirements demanded it. From time to time there has been trouble over this. The Chinese
Government ignored the issue from 1949 to 1963. They ther issued a public statement protesting against an attempt by the Hong Kong Government to carry out clearance operations and declaring that "the City of Kowloon is China's territory and within Chinese jurisdiction and this has all along been so in history". China's position since 1963 has not been made public, nor has there been any overt Hong Kong Government action in the Walled City to provoke reaction. However the local communist press in 1970 condemned the long Kong Government's attempt to remove two old cannon found in a construction site in the Walled City. On the other hand, when the Hong Kong Government took action in 1973 to demolish two illegal multi-storeyed buildings at the periphery of the Walled City, it was known that a New China News Agency representative was sent to inform the Kowloon Walled City Kaifong Welfare Fromotion Committee (the local communist organization) to keep out of the matter.
CONFIDENTIAL
13. Major