CO129-593-1 Future policy- unofficial views 18-6-1946 - 28-12-1946 — Page 25

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"Moorside Farm",

Midgley,

Laddenden Foot,

W. York's.

25-

Mr. Belcher, M.P.

Dear Sir,

I have recently received a letter from my brother who is a missionary in Pingkiang, Hunan, Central China. He is practically isolated from European contacts and lives and mixes freely with Chinese, mostly Christian, of all ranks of society. He writes on the subject of Hong Kong and Kowloon and I will quote directly from his letter.

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At the end of hostilities a British force steamed in there and took over the administration again

and quite rightly, I think, to tide over the inevitable confusion of that period. But, despite all the nice things that have been said about the new position of China as one of the great powers and one of the allies; despite the Atlantic Charter; despite the abrogation of the Unequal Treaties and the ending .of Extraterritoriality; it looks as though there is no

idea of altering the status of Hong Kong and Kowloon. Bevin's Foreign Policy is perhaps not very different from that of the Conservatives in some respects

and I do think he can be justly criticised here.

answer

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I know the

that with a civil war (or something like it) in China this is no time to talk of handing Hong Kong back: but a plain statement from H.M. Govt. of intention to hand back within the next decade, for instance, progressively, would have an immense impression out here. The situation is very much on the Chinese mind, though it has naturally been over-shadowed this year by events further north. This last week,

there however, something very unfortunate happened was something like rioting in over-crowded Kowloon, and

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