Copy
to F.O.
3
SECRET
Phong Kong.
عنا
Government House,
Dear or Ormesby. Gone,
13th April 1938
One or two ideas appear to be floating about,
the object of which is to provide China with some capital and
the British Empire with a valuable consideration located in
China.
Has it been suggested in this connection that Great
Britain might
(a) buy the new territories, or
(b) pay a premium for an extension of our lease by
another hundred years, or more?
The new territoties are essentially necessary to
Hong Kong from the economic as well as the defensive point of view. Retention of Hong Kong is essentially necessary to Great
economically speaking;
Britain and, indeed, to the Empire
-
and all the more so in view of Shanghai's jeopardy: it is
equally necessary to China from the standpoint of defence, as the present hostilities have demonstrated. China in her present mood would recognize this latter point: when the renewal of
the lease comes up she may not be so disposed.
I am sending a copy of this letter to Clark Kerr
but showing it to no one else at the moment.
your
socialy
The Right Honourable,
W.G.A. Ormsby-Gore, P.C., M.P.
Z.And. Korthants