(283/284 on
54145/16/48 III)
dispersed, a corrigendum to the summary
record of the meeting in which Mr. Li
had originally raised the question was
circulated by the Secretariat. In this
corrigendum, the remarks attributed to
Mr. Li were somewhat altered. He was
now reported as saying "if the fact
that sovereignty over a territory rested
with another State was considered a reason
for ceasing to transmit information, then
information should cease to be transmitted
on Kowloon and the New Territories, as
sovereignty over those territories
rested in the Republic of China". As
the Committee had by then dispersed, there
was no further opportunity for reply.
I enclose as Annex III to this despatch
General Assembly document A/AC.28/S.R.2/
Corr.3, dated the 14th September, 1949,
which contains Mr. Li's corrigendum.
4. On the question of sovereignty,
the matter is not entirely free from
doubt, but I am advised that an interna-
tional court would probably hold that
during the currency of the lease, His
Majesty exercises sovereignty over the
leased territories; and that while in
strict law the leasing state retains a
reversionary property in the territory,
that fact does not impair the de facto
and de jure sovereignty of His Majesty
in the meantime. This is however subject
to reservation in regard to the
jurisdictional rights in the walled city
of Kowloon (see in this connection my
/Secret