Commonweain War Graves file
HKC 225
€225/1
RESTRICTED
FM FCO
TO TELELETTER HONG KONG
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HKD
19
017616
5297
COPY TO CONSULAR DENT
LAST PAPERDEEN PASSED TO
TELELETTER FILE REF HKC 225/COPIES
OF 03120OZ OCTOBER 89
OCTOBER NC 25/10
FROM : R MARSDEN, HKD
FOLLOWING FOR : DARWIN CHEN ESQ, GENERAL DUTIES BRANCH, HONG KONG COPIED TO : MS GRENNAN, CONSULAR DEPT, FCO
COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES
1.
JEREMY GEE, DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION AND SECRETARIAT OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION (CWGC) CALLED ON THE DEPARTMENT TODAY TO DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES IN HONG KONG.
2.
WE BRIEFED GEE IN DETAIL ON OUR PROPOSALS, HANDING OVER A SUMMARY OF THE EXCO PAPER, AND INVITED HIS VIEWS. GEE'S INITIAL REACTION WAS THAT, ALTHOUGH OUR PROPOSALS WERE LIKELY TO BE ACCEPTABLE TO THE CWGC AS FAR AS THEY WENT, THE CWGC WOULD PROBABLY STILL PREFER A COMPREHENSIVE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES AGREEMENT, CONCERNING ALL ASPECTS OF THE CWGC'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SARG ON THE LINES OF SIMILAR AGREEMENTS WHICH HAD BEEN CONCLUDED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES. WE EXPLAINED THAT IT WOULD PROBABLY BE EASIER TO OBTAIN THE NECESSARY ASSURANCES FROM THE CHINESE IF THE QUESTION WAS BROACHED IN TERMS OF LAND GRANTS FOR ALL PRIVATE CEMETERIES RATHER SOLELY IN TERMS OF SECURITY OF TENURE FOR THE CWGC CEMETERIES. HE ACKNOWLEDGED THE FORCE OF THIS ARGUMENT BUT WONDERED WHETHER OUR APPROACH MIGHT EVENTUALLY PAVE THE WAY FOR A COMPREHENSIVE AGREEMENT.
3.
GEE SAW THE ATTRACTION OF SEPARATING THE STATUTORY AND MANAGEMENT ROLES OF THE DIRECTOR OF URBAN SERVICES. HE SAID THAT THE CWGC WOULD CONSIDER THE IDEA OF APPOINTING AN AGENT IN HONG KONG TO MANAGE THEIR CEMETARIES, AND WOULD PURSUE THIS WITH THE URBAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT.
4. GEE UNDERTOOK TO DISCUSS OUR PROPOSALS WITH THE COMMISSION'S MEMBER GOVERNMENTS AND TO LET US HAVE CONSIDERED COMMENTS IF
POSSIBLE BY MID-NOVEMBER.
5.
PLEASE PASS A COPY OF THIS TELELETTER TO GRAHAM LEICESTER, UKREP JLG.
SIGNED : R MARSDEN
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