171
past. You can of course assure the
Committee and the Colony that His Majesty's
Government will give the fullest
protection to Hongkong and its mainland
territories during the civil war now
unhappily raging in China and that they have
no intention whatever of surrendering
Hongkong or of abandoning or diminishing
in any way its rights or authority in any
part of the adjacent mainland territories
under British administration to the
maintenance of which His Majesty's
Government attach the highest importance.