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3. On December 18, 1926, His Majesty's Government
communicated to the washington Treaty Powers a Memorandum
on Policy towards China in which the suggestion was made
that the Powers should call upon China to "maintain that
"respect for the sanctity of Treaties which is the primary
"obligation common to all civilized states"; and at the
present moment His Majesty's Government in common with the
other governments concerned, are in fact faced with the
necessity of making every effort to prevent the unilateral
denunciation by China of her Treaties with the various
Powers. In these circumstances Lord Cushendun believes
that Mr. Amery will appreciate the effect of comment such
as that referred to in the preceding paragraph. It might
indeed precipitate a situation in which we would be compelled
either to admit that we intended to commit a breach of the
Convention of 1898 or to issue a formal denial.
In either
case this would place His Majesty's Government in a most
embarrassing position and might lead to consequences more
serious and more far reaching than the local "atmosphere of
"uncertainty and dismay", to which the slight differentiation
in the treatment as regards leases between the two different
portions of the Colony might give rise.
4.
The economic dependence of Hongkong upon the New
Territories and the fact that our possession of the former
is in perpetuity while our lease of the latter will expire
in