TNAG-0943-FCO40-1162-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 212

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New China News Agency (NCNA). This is a relationship that

particularly has been actively encouraged by the Governor of Hong Kong

since early in 1973 and the Director of NCNA, Wang Kuang, now performs, albeit in an unrecognised and unofficial way, practically every role of a Chinese diplomatic representative in Hong Kong.

1

Historical background, pre-1949

The issue of an official

It

representative of China in Hong Kong has a long history. was first raised as early as 1869 but was then resolutely opposed by the local mercantile community and the request was refused. In the autumn of 1940 the subject was taken up by the Chinese Nationalist Government and, with the agreement of the Government of Hong Kong, Britain agreed in principle to the appointment of such a representative. It is not

clear whether the official title of such a representative was agreed and further progress was in any case prevented by the outbreak of war with Japan. At the time of negotiating the re-opening of major British consular posts in China in 1945, the offer to accept the appointment of a Chinese representative in Hong Kong was renewed. In September of

that year, the Officer Administering the Government of Hong Kong suggested to HM Ambassador at Hong Kong that the

Chinese Government be invited to accredit a "Liaison Officer"

to Hong Kong, "pending consideration of the appointment of a Chinese Consul-General". Although the Chinese Government

would not entertain the appointment of a "Consul-General" in Hong Kong a note from the MFA agreed to the "stationing by the Chinese Government of an official in Hong Kong in

order to keep contact in political and economic spheres" and nominated Mr T W Kwok [Guo Dehua (Kuo Teh-hua)] as "Special Commissioner of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs". He was concurrently "Special Delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guangdong (Kwangtung) and Guangxi (Kwangsi)" and kept an address at the Office of Special Commissioner for Guangdong and Guangxi, Hong Kong Bank Building, Hong Kong. Although Mr Kwok duly arrived. in November 1945 he does not appear to have presented any credentials, nor does it seem that any official intimation of his designation even reached the Hong Kong Government.

Thy of Nanking

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