No Settlement In Problem Of Hongkong Areas

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 200, 24 August 1945, Page 4

No Settlement In Problem Of Hongkong Areas

T"\URING the past few months the *"' world's Press headlines have dealt with the exchange, in most cases forcibly, of vast areas of territory both in Europe and Asia; to-day "in the news" is an island with an area of a little more than 32 miles— Hongkong.

It is an island, however, which has an importance beyond all comparison with its size, for, prior to its occupation by Japan in 1941, it was the principal commercial and financial centre in South-East Asia and an important army and naval station. Nevertheless it is probably not so much this factor as the ethical question of Chinese sovereignty which has caused the present problem—whether Hongkong should be occupied by British or Chinese troops.

How Hongkong came to be British territory does not make pleasant reading. After the establishment of the British East India Company in the 17th century, opium began to be imported into China on a grand scale for "pleasure purposes," British vessels dropping anchor off the coast of China, and having the opium got ashore by Chinese smugglers. A roaring trade was built up, highly profitable to both merchants and smugglers.

However, the effect on the Chinese was considerable, not only physically, but economically, and in 183S, it was decided that, after a year's moratorium, the punishment for opium smoking would be the death penalty. The Chinese built defences along the southern coastal regions and demanded that the English merchants hand over their stocks. The English refused and were blockaded. Faced with starvation, they delivered up two million catties of the drug, which were destroyed.

An attempt was made to restrict the Western merchants from trading in opium, and relations between the two races became worse. A Chinese was killed in Hongkong in a brawl with British sailors. The English refused to give up the assassins, and the Chinese were forbidden to trade with the English. The English replied with guns—so began the First Opium War. Treaty of Nanking On August 28, 1842, the conflict ended with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, under which China was to cede Hongkong to Great Britian, open up treaty ports at Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai, and pay an indemnity of six million dollars for the expenses of the war, as well as another nine millions to the English merchants for the loss of trade during the war and for the opium contraband. The Second Opium War, which broke out about 15 years later, resulted in the introduction of the system of extraterritoriality, whereby nationals of Powers with extraterritorial rights, who committed an offence on Chinese soil, were subject only to such punishment as their own consuls might mete out to them. •During the years which followed the British increased Hongkong's importance, until in 1040 vessels representing nearly 22,000,000 tons entered and cleared the port in the foreign trade. Meantime, mostly on a 99-year lease ending in 1997, a further several hundred square miles of territory around Kowloon, on the mainland opposite had been added to the colony. On Christmas Day, 1941, the garrison on the island surrendered to the Japanese. It is interesting to note in passing that among the defenders was the noted New Zealand Rhodes Scholar and writer, James Bertram, and among the last to leave the island before its fall was Madame Sun Yat-sen, widow of China's National Father. New Treaties Signed On October 10, 1942, the Governments of Britain and the United States simultaneously notified the Chinese Government that they were willing to abrogate extraterritorial rights, and to do away with all related privileges. The following January the new treaties were signed, and since then other nations with extraterritorial rights have 1 been the signatories to similar pacts. During the negotiations for the British-Chinese pact the question of Hongkong was not discussed. While the question of Kowloon was raised by China, at the instance of the British Government it was not discussed. Commenting on this in his book, "China's Destiny," Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek said, "The only remaining unsatisfactory point in the British-Chinese treatry is the unsettled nature wth regard to the leased territory of Kowloon. Our Government has formally notified Great. Britain that we still reserve the right to open negotiations for the return of Kowloon. "We fully realise that because Kowloon and Hongkong adjoin each other, a simultaneous settlement of both problems is imperative. There may be reason 'for Britain's delay, but we in China believe that the British Government will not allow this bullet-sized area to impair the permanent friendly relations between Great Britain and China."