CO129-591-18 Liberation of Hong Kong- arrangements for Japanese surrender 15-8-1945 - 19-4-1946 — Page 199

passed on toWedemeyer our assusrance about the subsequent

use of the port of Hong Kong. The proposal made in

peragraph 4 of J.S.M. 15 is satisfactory so far as it

goes but must, in Mr. Hall's opinion, be read in relation

to the general question or delay. Mr. Häll notes from the

minutes of the Chiefs of Staff's meeting mentioned above

that the Foreign Office have been asked to tell our

Ambassador in Chungking for the information of the

Generalissimo, that the British force taking the surrender

or Hong Kong has been told to coni'orm to General MacArthur's

orders regarding the date of this surrender which it appears

will not now be before the 31st August and may well be a few

days later. I understand that a telegram in this sense has

already been despatched by the Foreign Office to Chungking.

Mr. Hall feels that it is most important that we

should get it clearly on the record that our instructions

to Admiral Fraser have been given on the clear understanding

that Hong Kong will be surrendered to British forces and to

nobody else. He would be grateful therefore if the Chiefs of

When informing Staff, in reporting to the .5. M. that these instructions

Could have been given to Admiral Fraser, and add a rider making

clear the understanding on which these instructions have

been sent, and requesting an assurance from the U.S.Chiefs

or Starf that no obstacle will be placed in the way of the

British Pacific Fleet accepting the surrender of Hong Kong.

A