CO129-609-5 Future policy- Press accounts of Chinese unrest over Kowloon evictions 19-1-1948 - 16-3-1948 — Page 36

KOWLOON INCIDENT

SHARP CHINESE REPLY TO BRITAIN

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FROM OUR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT

The British Government have now received a reply to their Note to China of January 24 concerning the eviction of squatters from the walled city" of Kowloon.

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The British Note was itself sent in answer to an earlier Chinese Note claiming compensa- tion for the squatters. The latest Chinese Note maintains that under the Peking Con- vention of 1898 the city of Kowloon expressly reserved to Chinese jurisdiction, that the magistrate of the Pao On district of Kwangtung was correct in intervening in the affair, and that responsibility lies with the Hongkong Government for the subsequent clashes between the squatters and the police.

There is some surprise in London at the sharp wording of the Note, which expresses no regret at the incidents and dwells almost ex- clusively on the jurisdictional aspects of the matter, on which it has been the British Government's hope to obtain an amicablə settlement with the Chinese Government.

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- Z FEB 1948

Me Wallace 1/535. In Perfond 539