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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

CONFIDENTIAL

(No. 59) Sir,

154/10

CHINA February 26, 1948

Section 1

Copy No. 149

CONVERSATION WITH THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR

Mr. Bevin to Sir R. Stevenson (Nanking)

Foreign Office,

26th February, 1948

Kowloon City: Proposed Garden of

Remembrance

The Chinese Ambassador called on me this afternoon, 26th February, to raise the question of Kowloon City. He informed me that his Government now accepted our proposal for the establishment of a Garden of Remembrance. They further agreed that the police, water-power and electricity for the Garden should be supplied by the Kowloon leased territory. They wished, however, to entrust the administration of the Garden to a Board of Management consisting of seven members, five of whom would be nominated by the Mayor of Kuangtung, and two of whom would be representatives of the Kowloon leased territory.

Representation on Management Board:

Jurisdiction Issue

2. I told the Ambassador that, in our view, this proposal of the Chinese Govern- ment for unequal representation on the Board of Management was an indirect attempt to establish the principle of Chinese jurisdiction over Kowloon City. Our object in putting forward our proposal had been to clear up an area which was a slum and an eyesore, and to establish there a Garden commemorating the Allied dead, the control of which should not prejudice in any way our respective claims to the jurisdiction of the City.

3. Dr. Cheng Tien-hsi said that it was also the understanding of the Chinese Government that the question of jurisdic- tion was not prejudiced by the present pro- posal. I pointed out, in reply, that the Chinese Government were, in effect, pro- posing to admit two members of the Kow- loon Administration to the Board of Management as if by an act of grace. If we accepted this arrangement it would

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look as if we were admitting the principle of Chinese jurisdiction, and this we were not prepared to do. I told the Ambassador that, although I had not yet obtained your views on this proposal, I would be pre- pared to agree to the constitution of a Management Committee composed of three representatives nominated by the Chinese and three representatives of the Kowloon Administration. The chairmanship of the committee could then alternate between the two sides.

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4. Dr. Cheng Tien-hsi emphasised that, although His Majesty's Government had exercised de facto jurisdiction over Kow- loon for a considerable time, the general mass of the Chinese people still regarded Kowloon as Chinese territory. If we now pressed our desire for equal representation on the committee, the Chinese Government would find it difficult to explain their apparent loss of prestige to the public. repeated that it was not our desire to prejudice the claims of either side to the jurisdiction of the territory. That was a separate issue which could be discussed later. The immediate proposal was to set up a Garden as a memorial. We were, if necessary, prepared to finance the Garden and to control it ourselves. We had thought, however, that the Chinese Govern- ment would wish to share in the running of the Garden on a basis of equality and would recognise that if they accepted this offer they would, in fact, be acquiring a share in the control of an area in which they had previously exercised no de facto jurisdiction.

5. The Ambassador then said that he would, on his personal initiative, suggest to his Government that the ratio of repre- sentation on the committee should be four to three in favour of the Chinese repre- sentatives.

6. I concluded by repeating that we would not accept inequality on the com- mittee. We very much regretted the ill- feeling that had been caused by this

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