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CONFIDENTIAL
Sino-British Land Commission
Agreed Minute No. 26
Land
At the
twenty-first meeting of the Sino-British
Commission held on 5 December 1990, the British and Chinese sides agreed on the following points :-
Land for Cemeteries
6.
The two sides noted that land for extensions to
existing private cemeteries and Commonwealth War Graves
Commission cemeteries, irrespective of their existing form
of land holding, and for new private cemeteries will be
made available by Deeds of Appropriation.
CONFIDENTIAL
i to im
" MR PAUL, HKD)
Thank you.
lan Rusl
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HKC225/1
RC
07 FEB 1991
FROM:
Aps | Lord Caithnen
mrick
29.
DATE:
A R Paul
Hong Kong Department
25 January 1991
PS/Lord Caithness
Cc:
Mr Burns
Mr Davies, FED
Contact C201
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MP'S LETTER CONCERNING BRITISH SERVICEMEN ́S GRAVES IN CHINA
AND HONG KONG
A
Problem
1. Mr Martyn Jones MP (Labour, Clwyd SW) wrote to the Secretary of State on 16 January enclosing a letter from a constituent asking about war graves in China and Hong Kong.
B
Recommendation
I recommend that Lord Caithness reply along the lines of
the attached draft. FED have been consulted and concur.
2.
Background
3.
There have been recent reports in the press concerning the suspected destruction of the cemetery in Shanghai where
some of the dead from the "Yangtse Incident" are buried.
FED have consulted Shanghai who have confirmed that
according to their records the only British graves in or
around Shanghai were located at the Hongqiao cemetery in the
southwest outskirts of Shanghai. The cemetery was apparently destroyed and built over during the Cultural
Revolution. There exists a memorial to those killed during
this incident in Saint Nicholas' Church at HMS Drake,
Devonport.
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4. Mr Chambers also asks about war graves in Hong Kong. The question of what arrangements will be made for the
maintenance of the Commonwealth war cemeteries in Hong Kong after 1997 is currently under discussion with HKG and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), and will have to
be tackled with the Chinese in due course through the JLG.
We have already established with the Chinese through the
Land Commission that the present legal arrangements under
which the cemeteries are made available to the CWGC will
continue after 1997.
Taml
A R Paul
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