}
OFFICIAL STATEMENT ISSUED BY HONG KONG GOVERNMENT ON 15TH SEPTEMBER, 1946.
Certain articles which have recently appeared in the Chinese
Press indicate that in some quarters there is a misapprehension as to the
status of Kowloon City, in that it is considered that the status of Kowloon
City is in some way different from that of the remainder of the New Territories
Since Kowloon City is persistently referred to in the articles as being
Chinese territory and it is even stated that it was laid down by treaty
that the territory within the city wall of Kowloon City was to remain
Chinese, it is desirable that these inaccurate statements should be contra-
dicted and that the public should be informed of the true position.
2+
By the Peking Convention of 1898 it was agreed between Great Britain
and China that the limits of British territory should be enlarged under a
lease for ninety-nine years so that they should extend northwards to what
may be briefly described as the Deep Bay-Mirs hay frontier. Kowloon City
was not excluded from the leased territory and in fact the wording of the
Convention is entirely inconsistent with any intention to exclude it.
3.
It was, however, stipulated in the Convention that within the City
of Kowloon the Chinese officials then stationed there should continue to
exercise jurisdiction except so far as might be inconsistent with the
military requirements for the defence of Hong Kong. If Kowloon City had
been excluded from the leased territory there would, of course, have been
no need for any stipulation as to the jurisdiction of Chinese officials
because the jurisdiction would have automatically remained in the sovereign
state. Thus from the 1st July, 1898, on which date the Convention came
into force, Kowloon City became, for the period of the lease, part of the
extended British territory and came under British sovereignty.
4. In 1899 the exercise of jurisdiction by Chinese officials in
Kowloon City was found to be inconsistent with the military requirements
for the defence of Hong Kong and was accordingly terminated. Since
that date, that is for nearly 50 years, the British authorities have
exercised sole jurisdiction in Kowloon City as in the remainder of the
New Territories.