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(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