Sir
C. Jeffries.
You will wish to see the stage which we have now reached in the consideration of this problem.
As you will see from the draft telegram at No. 260 we feel that in view of the very positive opinion given by the Law Officers of the Crown at No. 257 we must not only refrain from taking this case to the International Court but must avoid getting into the position in which the Chinese might take it to the Court. This means that Hong Kong must now really face up to the necessity of devising an acceptable compromise; and indeed we feel that the solution proposed in the draft telegram ought to be acceptable to Hong Kong, especially as the Foreign Office Legal Advisers feel that they could so frame,the documents as not to involve any serious loss of face to either the Chinese or ourselves.
It is encouraging to see from No. 262 that, quite independently, the Ambassador at Nanking has come to the same conclusion as ourselves as to which of the various suggestions which have been put forward in the past is the least objectionable. The solution proposed involves abandoning the project of a garden of remembrance (to which the public would have access) in favour of placing the whole of the site at the disposal of the Chinese for the purpose of building an office for their representative in Hong Kong. It would be an essential condition that the whole site should be enclosed. This would result in the public not having access to it (thereby minimising the chances of any incident involving the exercise of jurisdiction) and would also place firmly upon the Chinese the responsibility for maintaining order within the area in accordance with the normal principles which govern foreign consulates.
We hope to have the final text of a draft telegram available for submission to higher authority very shortly now.
6.J.J.
13/
13.vii.48.
263 Extract from cos munter -30.6.15
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