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I had a late meeting with the Foreign Office' last night on Sir H. telegram No. 958 attached which shows that an mpasse has been reached with Chiang Kai Shek over the matter of the acceptance of the enemy's surrender in Hong Kong. The Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister had seen this telegram last night and were of the opinion that it called for some concession on our part to save the Generalissimo's face.
Sir A. Cadogan was attracted by General Carton de Wiart's suggestion at the end of his telegram, No. 15 on the file, on the ground that some device of this sort would emphasise that any delegation by the Generalissimo was solely related to the strictly military matter of dealing with Japanese forces.
The Foreign Office are also themselves torn by a fear that British interests in China will suffer if we do not make some concession in Hong Kong (see paragraph 4 of No. 50).
Mr. Sterndale Bennett and I last night drafted a telegram as at A attached, which purports to correct the Generalissimo's claim of his legal rights to accept the surrender in Hong Kong as being "in accordance with Allied arrangements" and goes on to suggest that whatever his claim he has the power to waive it and if he did so H.M.G. would make an appreciative public reference to his action.
In view of the Prime Minister's and the Foreign Secretary's view, however, that we must be prepared for some concession, it remains to consider what form that should take. I understand that Mr. Bevin wishes to discuss this this morning with Mr. Hall.
I told the F.0. that in my view General Carton de Wiart's distinction between two surrenders, (a) a civic and territorial surrender from the Japanese Governor, (b) a military surrender from the Japanese garrison Commander, was quite unreal and as we were dealing with a military problem and a military seizure of our territory, the whole issue should be dealt with as a military problem viz a viz the Japanese. I suggested that if we were forced to make a concession in the matter of delegation in Chiang Kai Shek's favour, it should be on the following lines:-
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The surrender document should be signed in Hong Kong by the British Admiral on behalf of H.M.G. and the British General Commanding British forces in China, General Hays, (or if preferred, the British General Carton de Wiart); the British General should sign on behalf of the Supreme Commander China theatre, and for this purpose Chiang Kai Shek should delegate to the British General his authority for the purpose. The surrender document would be on the model of the Berlin surrender document, last page of No. 21 in the file. Appended as the signature of witnesses would be a Chinese and an American officer detailed by"Chiang Kai Shek if he chooses to accept the invitation we have already sent him for the purpose.
A concession on these lines may satisfy the Generalissimo, will preserve the British military position in the surrender document and will, in fact,
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