NOTHING TO
BE
WRITTEN
IN
THIS
MARGIN.
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Minutes.
Chiang Kai-shek's obstinacy over this question of military surrender is all the more striking since he has made it clear in recent public statements that he does not challenge our position in Hong Kong and will seek to fulfil China's aspirations in regard to Hong Kong by diplomatic means only.
His attitude over the military surrender is somewhat unreasonable. He can hardly expect us, as the sovereign power, to do otherwise than resume possession of our own territory when we have the necessary forces available; and he has ignored our natural wish to do so in any case to wipe out the memory of the Japanese capture of Hong Kong after the small garrison had fought against overwhelming odds. Nor is he acting within Allied arrangements. General Order No. 1 specified that he was to take the surrender within China. The instructions issued to General MacArthur about Hong Kong make the surrender to a British officer dependent only on completion of the arrangements for mili- tary coordination between ourselves and Chiang Kai-shek in the matter of facilities which we have undertaken to provide in Hong Kong after the surrender.
We should have good ground for proceed- ing with our arrangements to take the surren- der in Hong Kong without further regard for Chiang Kai-shek. But this would almost certainly land us into trouble with the Americans and it would embitter our relations with Chiang Kai-shek to an extent which might hinder us in the important task of re- establishing our commercial interests in liberated China. We must therefore exhaust every possible means of reaching an agreement with Chiang Kai-shek.
I think it is worth while making one more effort to get him to waive rather than to delegate the power which he claims to accept surrender in Hong Kong, and a draft telegram in this sense, agreed with the Colonial Office subject to ministerial approval on both sides, is attached.
If the appeal in this telegram does not succeed, it remained to consider what com- promise is open to us.
General Carton de Wiart has suggested that a possible solution would be that a British representative should accept the civic and territorial surrender of Hong Kong from the Japanese Governor and should at the same time accept the military surrender of the Japanese garrison on behalf of Chiang Kai- shek as C.in C. China theatre.
This solution
seems. ...
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