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7.

curious features.

These two agents at one moment combine and

at another compete with one another, but on the whole the Kuo-

mintang endeavours to assume the greater prominence. The

Commissioner finds himself on occasion placed in a very difficult

dilemma:

either, on the one hand, for the sake of seemliness and

accepted diplomatic practice, of opposing the representatives of

the Party which really forms the Government which he represents,

or, on the other, of siding with the Party in support of repre-

sentations and activities, which he knows in his own mind are

not in accordance with accepted international practice so long

as Hong Kong remains outside of China. A large part of the

difficulty is undoubtedly due to the egregious nature and ambi-

tious self-importance of the present head of the local Kuomin-

tang branch, Mr. Lee Tai Chiu, who has no compunction about

putting the nose of the diplomat out of joint on any and every

occasion, if he thereby succeeds in gaining anything for his own

glorification with his Party-superiors.

18. The problem now is, while British rule prevails in Hong

Kong and we are responsible for its good administration, to

secure that this Party shall not assume here the position of an

"imperium in imperio", and so undermine the foundations of our

administration that, when the occasion suits it, it can manoeuver

an unilateral resumption of the territory and meanwhile batten

on its wealth and bend the populace to its will by methods of

subtle intimidation. It is difficult to prescribe to the Party

officials generally what they may or may not do: in either case

they will promise to conform but in practice will not conform.

It is even more difficult to proscribe or to shut one's eyes to

the existence of a society which is really a branch of the

political party which at present forms the Central Government of

China. The answer to this problem seems to lie in devising

some arrangements whereby the Central Government of China,

through the Secretary-General of the Kuomintang in Nanking,

could be prevailed upon to post to the headship of the Kuomintang

e

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