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Dear Sir Hughe,
WAICHIA OPU
THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA
NANKING
7 26/6/221/11
May 1st, 1937.
I have received your letter of April 26th regarding the
Kowloon case and feel most thankful to you for the information
with which you have furnished me on the subject.
You will recall that in my previous letter addressed to
you on this question, I invited your attention to two important
points, one the advisability or inadvisability of carrying out to
its fullest extent the plan of expropriation as conceived by the
Hongkong Government, and the other the question of jurisdiction
over the City of Kowloon, concerning which the contention of the
Chinese Government, it must be admitted, is well founded on
treaty provisions.
However justifiable, from the sanitary and
the aesthetic point of view, the action of the Hongkong
authorities might be in evicting the Chinese residents and
planning to turn the site in question into a public park, it
cannot but be regretted that these authorities have lost sight of
the importance of the juridical phase of the question vis-a-vis the
Chinese Government. The failure on the part of the Hongkong
Government in paying due regard to the claim of the Chinese
Government seems to have strengthened the arguments of those who
have raised the strongest opposition to the scheme.
I am inclined to think that in dealing with matters of
this kind it is always advantageous to use a certain amount of
tact and discretion and especially to take into consideration the
feelings of the local inhabitants so as to avoid any unpleasant
situation that may otherwise arise. Quite aside from and without
prejudice to the question of jurisdiction over the Kowloon City, I therefore request you to be so good as to advise the Hongkong
anthorities to defer the full prosecution of their plan in- definitely and give more careful and thorough consideration to the matter in the light of the views expressed by all parties concerned
Sincerely yours,
(signed)
HSU MO