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SOUTH EAST ASIA AND THE FAR EAST - CONFERENCE OF H. M. REPRESENTATIVES AND COLONIAL GOVERNORS

Memorandum by the Secretary of State for

Foreign Affairs

That

My colleagues will recall that on 18th October I circulated to them a memorandum (C. P. (49) 207) about our general policy in South East Asia and the Far East. memorandum was designed to serve as guidance to the delegates attending a conference of H. M. Representatives and Colonial Governors in the area. In the present memorandum I give, for the information of my colleagues, an account of the proceedings of that conference.

2.

The conference was held from 2nd to 4th November under the Chairmanship of Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, Commissioner- General in South East Asia. The Ministerial representative of His Majesty's Government was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Rees-Williams, and the Foreign Office were represented by Mr. M. E. Dening. The following were also present: His Majesty's Representatives at Nanking, Tokyo, Bangkok, Rangoon, and Manila, the Acting British Consuls- General at Saigon and Batavia, the United Kingdom Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi, the Governors of Singapore and Hongkong, the High Commissioner for the Federation of Malaya, the Chief Secretaries of North Borneo and Sarawak, and the Commanders-in-Chief, Far East.

3.

The conference was similar in form to the conference of His Majesty's Representatives convened by Mr. MacDonald in November, 1948, though wider in scope since, on this occasion, H. M. Ambassadors in China and Japan, H. M. Minister in the Philippines, and the United Kingdom Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi were present.

4.

My colleagues will already have seen the telegrams from Singapore reporting the conclusions reached by the con- ference on various subjects. These conclusions are now being studied. Where consultation with my colleagues is necessary before action is taken arising out of the conference, I shall circulate papers dealing with specific subjects. In particular, I shall circulate a further paper about recognition of the Communist Government of China.

5.

The main purpose of the conference was to exchange views, and I think my colleagues will agree that it served this purpose well and that its conclusions, the substance of which I give below, deserve careful study.

Conclusions of the Conference.

6.

Recognition of the Communist Government of China.

Page 76ference agreed that BritiPagentes1097 China and Hongkong demanded the earliest possible de jure recógnition of the Communist Government of China. The general situation

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