DRAFT
Mr. Paskin 9/8.
Mr. Gent 9/8
Sir G. Gater.
(54144/40)
er.9/8
4N 10/8
91
54144/40(1)
TOP SECRET
Draft Minute to Prime Minister.
(for signature by the S. of s.).
The Chiefs of Staff are considering the question
of the association of British Forces with an operation,
based on Fort Bayard in China, for the recapture of Canton
and Hong Kong, by Chinese forces with American participation.
The Colonial Office is concerned from the point of view of
the necessary arrangements for the re-establishment of
British authority in Hong Kong on the liberation of the
Colony.
Apart however from the British interest in that
projected operation, I think that the time has come to
consider the arrangements to be made to ensure the
restoration of British authority in Hong Kong in the event
of a general capitulation of the Japanese forces.
I suggest that, to meet this contingency,
arrangements should now be prepared whereby suitable
British forces (e.g. two or three fast moving Fleet units)
should have orders to make for Hong Kong on a given signal,
and be well placed for the purpose, in the event of its
becoming likely that a general Japanese surrender is
imminent, with the object of reaching the Colony and
establishing British control with the least possible
interval after the capitulation becomes effective.
The senior or other suitable officer should
be equipped with the necessary commission to assume
governing powers.
If this is agreed, arrangements should be made,
if possible, for the nucleus of a British Civil Affairs
Unit to be suitably placed to accompany such a force. The
nucleus of such a unit already exists in the form of a
(civilian)/
1