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Mr Stewart
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papers on
HONG KONG: THE WALLED CITY AND AIRCRAFT SAFETY thy subject.
2017/1
1. When I was in Hong Kong in November last year I visited the Walled City in Kowloon on a number of occasions and became a little alarmed at one aspect of what I saw there. It seemed to me then, and still does now, that in respect of the Walled City's proximity to Kai Tak International Airport the Hong Kong Government is tolerating, without sufficient political justification, a situation which is potentially highly dangerous both to human life and in political terms.
2. For the copy addressees' benefit I should perhaps explain that the Walled City is a densely-populated (30-35,000 people) area of 61 acres which lies close to Kai Tak airport in Kowloon. Under Article IV of the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1898 it was agreed that: ... 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". Eleven months later British troops took possession of the Walled City and, by an Order-in-Council in December 1899, the cessation of Chinese jurisdiction over the City was declared, along with the assumption of British control "as if it (the City) had originally formed part of a said Colony". Since that date the Walled City has been claimed by both the British and Chinese Governments.
3. I mention this historical background because it has important implications for present policy. These implications were first apparent in 1933 when the Hong Kong Government attempted to carry out clearance operations within the Walled City and the Kuomintang Government protested. Forty years later it was the turn of the Government of the PRC to protest, when the Hong Kong Government tried again. The communist Chinese view (shared by its predecessor) was, and is, that: "the City of Kowloon is China's territory and within Chinese jurisdiction and this has all along been so in history". In order to reconcile these rival claims, our own and the Chinese, to maintain in fact a delicate political equilibrium on this matter, the activities of the Hong Kong Government in the Walled City have so far been conducted with extreme caution and in such a way as not to provoke resident or mainland Chinese sensitivities. A policy has evolved which abhors any thought of large scale re-development and selects those laws, regulations and services to be enforced in or extended to the Walled City on the grounds of their acceptability to the residents of the City and therefore to mainland China. (So, for example, measures to introduce environmental improvements and to provide social services have been found to be acceptable, while
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