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6.
Kore-
meetings will be most useful if held in Hong Kong
itself. The Chinese interests in Hong Kong, the
Straits and Malaya centre round Canton and do not
go further up the coast than Foochow and moy.
There is little to be learned by the Chinese
Secretaries of these colonies in Shanghai, and
Peking is quite beyond their ordinary purview.
over, the Chinese Secretaries from the Straits and
Malaya ought during their visit here to get into
touch with the leading Chinese of Hong Kong and
learn their views at first hand. This would be
impossible if the meeting were at Changhai or Peking.
On the other hand, I hold that it will always be a
great advantage for your Chinese Bearetary to visit
Hong Kong and Canton and see something for himself
of South China, for, as you know, the Cantonese are
very different folk from those who live on the
Yangtze and in the North. When in Hong Kong your
Secretary can easily visit Canton and make the
acquaintance of the leading Chinese officials there.
It will also doubtless be useful for him to confer