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Secret Savingram No. 200 of the 10th September,

1948) and it was not thought possible to

instruct the United Kingdom Representative

in the Special Committee to make a wholesale

denial of Mr. Li's statement regarding

sovereignty; moreover, questions of sovereignty

are entirely outside the competence of the

Special Committee.

5. On the narrower question of the

transmission of information to the Secretary-

General under Article 73 (e) of the Charter,

however, I am advised that there can be no

question about the position. The obligations

contained in Article 73 are based not on

the exercise of sovereignty but on the

exercise of administrative responsibility.

As the report of the Special Committee was

due to be considered by the General Assembly

of the United Nations at its current Session,

instructions were prepared for the United

Kingdom delegation as to the attitude they

should adopt should the representative of

China repeat in the Fourth Committee or in

Plenary Session of the General Assembly

the remarks concerning Kowloon and the

New Territories which he made in the

Special Committee. These instructions were

as follows:

"If this question is reopened

in the Fourth Committee, the United

Kingdom representative should again

reserve his Government's position,

indicating that His Majesty's

Government will certainly continue to

transmit information under Article 73 (e)

of the Charter in respect of the New

Territories and Kowloon. If he feels

/it