OUTWARD TELEGRAM
106
Cypher/CTP.
1641
No. F1471/154/10.
Restricted.
FROM FOREIGN OFFICE TO NANKING.
POLITICAL DISTRIBUTION.
No. 86.
D. 11.25 a. m, 1st February 1948.
31st January 1948.
Repeated to: Hong Kong,
RESTRICTED.
Addressed to Nanking No.86 of 31st January, repeated to Hong Kong for information.
Kowloon evictions,
Chinese Ambassador called on Permanent Under-Secretary of State on 30th January to press for an answer to the proposals made the previous week for the settlement of the Kowloon incidents. (os)
Permanent Under-Secretary told the Ambassador that there could be no question of our paying compensation for the persons injured during the fray or of releasing those men who were arrested for resisting the police. To do so would be tantamount to condemning the Hong Kong Government for having exceeded their powers whereas they had done nothing more than carry out their duty by maintaining law and order and enforcing public hygiene. It was pointed out to the Ambassador that the trouble would never have occurred if the Kowloon squatters had not been incited by leaders who wished to exploit the situation for their own political ends and he was reminded of the analogous case which occurred in London two years ago when a certain number of squatters organised by the Communists barricaded themselves in a number of empty houses in London and had to be expelled with force by the police. As the Ambassador continued to press hard for a concession to be made on behalf of the Kowloon squatters Permanent Under-Secretary told him that this was a matter which could not be made the subject of a diplomatic negotiation or bargain. The Chinese Government would be well advised to rely upon the normal operation of the British sense of justice which was well-known in the Far East and elsewhere, and leave it at that.
•
2. The Ambassador also asked whether we were ready to agree to the Chinese proposal to build a Chinese Government Office on the site of the walled
city