CODE 18-77
Mr Williamson
(HK and GD)
SECRET
SOVEREIGNTY OVER HONG KONG
Summary
1.
SSA
Pekil
Reference..
& Chan
Chancery,
ANA, HEE
НК кон
HK
D
4 ST900.
Although the Chinese have often made it clear that they regard Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories as Chinese territory, they do not appear to have directly challenged Britain's claim to sovereignty over Hong Kong and Kowloon or asked us to recognise their own.
China
2. On two occasions during the Second World War, Britain and China moved nearer to possible confrontation over the issue. The first time was in 1942-43 during negotiations over the treaty to relinquish British extraterritoriality in China (the treaty was signed on 11 January 1943). sought to introduce into the negotiations discussion of the 1898 Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong and to have two clauses added to the draft treaty that would have provided for the return of the leased territories to China. Britain resisted this demand, and the Chinese Government eventually withdrew it, while reserving the right to raise the issue again at a later date.
3. At the end of the war, Chiang Kai-shek, as Supreme Commander of the China theatre, was empowered to accept the Japanese surrender "within China" Britain refused to consider any interpretation of the order as including Hong Kong "within China" or to accept Chiang's proposal that he delegate his power to the Officer Commanding the British Forces. In the event Britain accepted the Japanese surrender on behalf of Britain and China.
4.
Britain
During and immediately after the war, China nourished the expectation that Hong Kong (including both ceded and leased parts) would be returned to it at the end of hostilities. In this it received US encouragement. had indicated informally that it would be prepared to discuss the question of the leased territories when war was over, if the Chinese Government wished to raise it. Within British Government Departments, there was, during the war years, a readiness to re-examine the status of Hong Kong and the possibility of its return to China. However, on termination of hostilities, Britain moved to reassert its sovereignty in Hong Kong. China, for its part, did not press its claim and announced its willingness to discuss the problem through diplomatic channels.
5. Under the pressures and uncertainties of war, which included the need to maintain wartime alliances with the US and China, Britain did re-examine its relationship with Hong Kong while in public reserving its position. With a return to peace, and in the absence of specific issues that might provoke a closer discussion of the problems, Britain has
SECRET
/reverted