HONG KONG ARGUMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 228, 25 August 1945, Page 5

HONG KONG ARGUMENT

ABRUPT SETTLEMENT. SURRENTJEbTtO BRITISH. LONDON, "Aug. 2i. The argument about the acceptance of the, Japanese surrender at Hong Kong has ended. It was stopped abruptly by General MacArthur, who issued orders to the Japanese that they were to surrender to a British Admiral, RearAdmiral Harcourt. The surrender is expected to take place after the end of the month. Observing that American Liberals are said to be distressed because Britain's Foreign Minister (Mr Bevin) did not promise to hand over Hong Kong to the Chinese, says a Rugby message, the Manchester Guardian refers to the security bases held or claimed by other nations, and adds: "It is difficult to see why the British Empire alone should be expected to give up possessions it has managed, not without cost, to retain over the last 100 years. "This is not to argue that either Mr Bevin or Mr Attlee in his statement in the House has said the last word on the subject. It is not enough to strike an attitude and repeat: 'What we have we hold!' Nor can we expect to return to our possessions in the Far East as if nothing had happened in the interval.

"Our retention of bases such ah Hong Kong and Singapore can be justified on the grounds of security as much or as little as can the American demand for Saipan and Okinawa or the Russian wish for Port Arthur, though it is to be hoped that one dav all these will become bases for the United Nations. But our retention of Burma, Malaya and other territories in South-East Asia can be justified only by a new and vigorous policy to improve the welfare of the native people and hasten the time of their self-government.'' The Washington correspondent of the New York Herald-Tribune says informed diplomats assert that the United States does not question British sovereignty over Hong Kong and feels that the. island's future is a matter for the British and Chinese to settle.

They say the present policy is at direct odd's with the personal beliefs of President Roosevelt who favoured the termination of British sovereignty over Hong Kong and envisaged o\ entual self-government for many Far Eastern territories at present administered by foreign Powers.