}
Extracted from HONG KONG TELEGRAPH, 3rd June, 1948.
HK Story
Arouses
Colonial Office
(Our Own Correspondent) London, June 2.—The Colonial Office took today the unusual course of commenting on a special article appearing in the London Times concerning Hong- kong.
It was apparent Colonial Office officials were considerably alarmed by the adverse comment in London as contained in the article.
The writer mentioned the neces- sity of a modern airport to replace Kai Tak. Criticising the necessity for the British Government to put up the money, the writer omitted
to mention the answer to the House of Commons question on April 26. A Colonial Office spokesman told me: "His Majesty's Government is now prepared to make a grant up to £3,000,000 to supplement local contributions."
INDIGNANT DENIAL Furthermore, the writer of the "Times article mentioned the feeling of British residents concerning the lease expiring in 1997.
The Colonial Office indignantly remarked that the correspondent was ignorant in his facts. Hongkong island is held in lease in perpetuity. Kov loon only is Teased until 1997.
Concluding its onslaught against the Times writer the Colonial Office stated that the final paragraph was "not true." In this paragraph the Times correspondent stated that the Colonial Office insisted that muni- cipal elections be held on a wide franchise against the opinion of the local Hongkong Government and the educated Chinese residents.
London repeats this isn't true.
THE TIMES' STORY London, June 2.-According to to- day's London Times, a campaign by the Chinese Government against Hongkong, based on the demand for the retrocession of British "rights" there, will be intensified if the Kuo- mintang becomes a "stable" Govern- ment.
"Hongkong is vulnerable to a two- fold pressure," the Times' special correspondent in Hongkong wrote. "A blockade from the mainland would soon cause its entrepot trade to wither. It would then be easy for a hostile regime across the fron- tier to infiltrate and gain control of the Chinese labour on which both the port and the public services de- pend.
"The Kuomintang has never con- cealed its opinion that British rule constitutes an infringement of Chi- nese sovereignty.
"A strong Communist regime on the mainland would be quite as in- sistent as the Kuomintang on the retrocession of British →ights.
"The British policy towards China in this respect since the end has been marked by conciliation", the Times' special correspondent tinued.
con-
"Kuomintang agencies and news- papers have been allowed to func- tion in the Colony without inter- ference. More recently, to help the Chinese Government control the flow of illicit goods, the two Govern- ments signed an agreement per- mitting Chinese customs officials to operate in the colony.
"These, and many other expres- sions of goodwill, have not been ap- preciated by the Chinese Govern- ment.
"On the contrary, their attitude has been marked by a thinly veiled hostility, by attempts to infiltrate their own
party control into the Colony, and by any measures that could embarrass the local adminis- tration.
"If the Kuomintang recovers its position and becomes a strong and stable Government, this campaign against Hongkong will be intensified.
"There has been no declaration of policy and intentions towards Hong- kong since the end of the war.
"Many British residents have long felt that the Government should publicly announce its intentions of staying in the Island until the lease expires in 1997."-Reuter.
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