TNAG-0848-FCO40-1058-Future-of-Hong-Kong-New-Territories-leases-1979 — Page 35

SECRET

Hong Kong.

Remarking that the CPG was "more moderate" than Jiang Jieshi

(Chiang Kai-shek) Zhou said that when the Nationalist leader was in power

"he declared that the Chinese Governor of Guangzhou was also his repre-

This was as good as claiming that Hong Kong came

sentative for Hong Kong.

under his jurisdiction.

All we ask for is an official representative in

Hong Kong. Many of our people live there and need our help". In October

Zhou again raised the subject during the visit of Mr Erroll, Parliamentary

Under-Secretary at the Board of Trade. On 29 October "Zhou re-iterated the

request for a Chinese representative in Hong Kong, "just as the British

kept a man in Shanghai".

:>

8.

"Isn't it,

On 25 February 1958 Zhou Enlai again took up the 'question when

Mr Harold Wilson was paying an unofficial visit to Peking.

ridiculous?" said Zhou, that China was represented in Hong Kong only by the

reporters of NCNA. He recalled his conversation on the subject with the

Governor of Hong Kong in 1955 and once again used the presence of British

diplomatic officers in Shanghai to support the argument for CPG representa-

tion in Hong Kong. However, Zhou seemed to be arguing for a reply to

Chinese requests, rather than suggesting a specific parallel.

r

9. The reply was duly delivered on 27 February 1958 when the Secretary of State (Mr Selwyn Lloyd) spoke to the Chinese Chargé d'Affaires in London

In the course of a lengthy exchange in which the Secretary of State covered

a number of points on Sino-British relations and on general international issues, he told Huan Xiang (Huan Hsiang) that the British Government could

not agree to the appointment of a Chinese official representative in Hong

The Aide Mémoire, handed to Kong in the present climate, of relations.

Huan, gave as the reason: "Her Majesty's Government have reluctantly come

to the conclusion that the Chinese Government are not at present prepared

to acknowledge the legitimate point of view of the Hong Kong Government

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