00043
75
REC
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Cypher/OTP
2. REGY.
DEPARTALNTAL NO.1.
FROM NANKING TO FORLIGN OFFICE
D. 6.30 p.m. 17th December 1946
R. 1.25 a.m. 18th December 1946
Sir R. Stevenson No. 876
17th December 1946
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THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
CO 537/1649
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Personal for Sargent.
Your telegram No. 1170.
27
C
Despite recent [gp. undec. ? support of] press agitation in Canton it is not (repeat not) my impression that Chinese Government have any present intention of raising with us the general question of Hong Kong's status. (In this connexion I learn privately that General Wu Te-chen, Secretary-General Kuomintang, was furiously angry with Cantonese Kuomintang Headquarters when he was told by Minister for Foreign Affairs of Press dircctive about Hong Kong sce my telegram No. 1[gp.undec. ? 19] to Hong Kong).
2. Internal difficulties of the Chinese Government are so pressing, their fear of Soviet so great and their doubts about future United States policy so real that it seems to me highly unlikely that they will make any move which might prejudice their relations with us. Initiative over Hong Kong will not come from them until their internal position is more secure and it shows no (repeat no) signs of becoming so in the near future.
3. On the other hand if the matter is being raised by the Minister on lines of a spontaneous gesture by His majesty's Government it might be well to make such
a gesture while Chinese Government are feeling insecure. Its psychological value would be enhanced and it might be more likely to lead to a satisfactory settlement regarding future territory.
[Copy sent to Sir Ormo Sargent]
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