FO371-46253 — Page 224

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An urgent reply had to be sent to this and other points for the Co-ordinating Committee's meeting to- day, and a copy of the reply is at Flag G This

is to the effect that we have no objection to the dates proposed, but it points out that the difficulty between Chiang Kai-shek and ourselves may not have been resolved by then.

I concurred in this reply, since anything which suggested that we were going ahead before the date proposed would obviously have had a detrimental effect on the main discussion with Chiang Kai-shek.

But there are certain points to which I feel bound to draw attention, and I suggest that we ought to bring them to the notice of the Chiefs of Staff.

Although we can arrange the date of the formal surrender in Hong Kong to follow the general surren- der of Japanese troops within China to Chiang Kai- shek, it seems undesirable that the surrender in Hong Kong should be specifically linked with that in Nanking. I feel personally that Chiang Kai-shek's obstinacy on the question of signature at Hong Kong is not merely a matter of face. I feel that he intends to continue to claim a right after the sur- render to direct and supervise its implementation in Hong Kong. He may in fact insert something to this effect in the terms to be signed by the Chinese at Nanking. The invitation to a British officer to participate in the Nanking ceremony and the nomina- tion of General Hayes for this duty must be looked at in the light of this possibility. While there is everything to be said for General Haye saattending the ceremony in Nanking, I suggest that he ought to be instructed not to put his signature in any capacity to a document which purports to cover Hong Kong.

The surrender at Hong Kong ought to flow from General Order No. 1 (Flag A) issued by the Japanese at General MacArthur's direction and not from any Sino-Japanese surrender document at Nanking.

The present position in regard to General Order No. 1 is that in our view it does not in its present wording cover Hong Kong at all. Admiral Fraser has been instructed to ascertain whether and if so in what wording instructions about Hong Kong have been issued to the Japanese. We can only await this information, but unless the instructions prove to link up in some way with General Order No. Ì it is for consideration whether steps should not be taken (presumably by a telegram from the Prime Minister to President Truman) to request that General Order No. 1shall be amended in accordance with the Preamble to paragraph 1, or a subsequent instruction issued in virtue of paragraph 12, to make it clear beyond all doubt that the surrender at Hong Kong will be to Admiral Harcourt.

I submit for consideration a draft letter to the Chiefs of Staff.

JC Strandale Bennett

1st September 1945.

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