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SECRET

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اشد لیتا

F 2382 124

BRIEF FOR GENERAL HURLEY'S VISITAPR 1945

HONGKONG

23

In a telegram to General Ismay dated 27th March

Field-Marshal Wilson records a conversation with General

Hurley in which the latter said that we were likely to

encounter a rough attitude from the President and the State

Department over Hongkong and that he might be raising this

question in London.

2. We must therefore be prepared for the possibility of

his mentioning Hongkong, but it is not possible to foresee

from what angle and with what degree of emphasis he is likely

to do so.

3

He would presumably be likely to begin with some general

reference to American concern about Hongkong and it might be

tactically advantageous to reply at once on a challenging

note and to ask whether that concern is based to any extent

on a belief that the Colony has been unwisely administered

or unfairly exploited in British interests. He can be safely

challenged to disprove that it has been run to the benefit of

nearly a million Chinese residents and of all countries

having relations with China, and that the opportunities it

affords, in a material sense, have been equally available to

all nationalities. The main points regarding the British

record in Hongkong are briefly set out in the attached note

prepared by the Colonial Office.

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