Foreign Office,
S.W.1.
20
Where in
Then
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behise Full
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54145/16
Dear Jeel,
(20 A)
15th January, 1948.
Dr. Tuan's suggestion, to which I referred in
my previous letter, was a purely personal one, and he was at pains to say that he had no authority either from his Ambassador or his Government to make it.
But
he was very distressed at the effect which the question of jurisdiction in Kowloon was having upon our relations, and he had been racking his brains for a solution which might be acceptable to both sides.
His solution was that, now that the Customs Agreement has been signed, Kowloon city might be allocated to the Chinese Maritime Customs as a site, in order to enable them to operate under the terms of the agreement. I said that my first reaction was that as, according to reports I had seen, Kowloon city was virtually derelict, it could hardly be made habitable in a short space of time.
Dr. Tuan did not think this would matter.
If an agreement could be reached in principle, public opinion would be satisfied, and both sides would be able to get out of the difficulty which had caused trouble for more than forty years.
I thereupon said I would make discreet enquiries and find out whether Dr. Tuan's idea was likely to find acceptance. Dr. Tuan made it clear that he would have to seek his Ambassador's approval to put the proposal formally to the Chinese Government, and he did not of course know what their reaction would be.
This is of course a typical Chinese way of making soundings before making a formal proposal, though I am inclined to think that Dr. Tuan was telling the truth when he said the idea was purely his own. If there is anything in it, perhaps you would be good enough to let me know. Now that Kowloon city has come to the fore again, I am afraid we must expect the Chinese to continue
the /
G.F. Seel Esq., C.M.G.,
Colonial Office.