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customary three mile limit accepted by international usage although I now understand that the Chinese consider twelve miles to be the extent of territorial waters. The Foreign Office Legal Adviser after consultation with the Admiralty advised that the marking on the map was misleading and was merely 'a delimitation of the area within which all territory is leased, and accompanying the territory, of course, the normal territorial waters. He illustrated this by reference to the maps showing Antarctic claims which included large portions of the high seas, (F.6690/130/10 of 23rd September 1937). On the other hand, it is obviously a tenable theory that the marking on the map was deliberate and that Hong Kong, is excluded from exercising jurisdiction in the waters west of Lantao which would then presumably be under Chinese sovereignty. The first question therefore on which we should be grateful for your advice is whether the 1937 opinions can still be maintained.
40 The next question then arises as to whether Hong Kong should exercise jurisdiction within the full limits of the map or only within the three mile limit (either including or excluding the waters west of Lantao). In 1937 His Majesty's Government were concerned to avoid incidents which might compromise their neutrality in the struggle between Japan and China, and Hong Kong were there- fore instructed not to give the appearance of claiming jurisdiction beyond the limits of national or territorial waters properly accepted by international custom. Such waters, in the case of Hong Kong, were difined generally as follows:-
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