original proposal that the whole site should be taken over for the Commissioner. While not committing himself, Mr. Dening said that he was by no means sure that this did not raise a fresh issue of extraterritoriality if the Chinese claimed that the Commissioner, by occupying the site, would in fact be extraterrit orial. It was the Chinese who had appointed a Commissioner for Foreign Affairs instead of a Consul-General, but it would be the normal practice to have a Consul- General in a British colony who would not enjoy extraterritorial status.
4. When Mr. Dening said that the purpose of a corner of the site for the Special Commissioner was not clear to him, the Minister offered the personal view that it was so that the Special Commissioner could act as a sort of watchdog, to which Mr. Dening replied it would surely be rather awkward for the watchdog if in spite of his presence breaches of the law occurred which he was unable to prevent.
5. The Ambassador reiterated again and again the Chinese point of view on jurisdiction, to which Mr. Dening could only reply that we were looking into the matter. Dr. Cheng said that the Minister
would probably get in touch with Mr. Dening again.
ек
просту
Mearlch.
(P.W. Scarlett)
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