London tribute to Chinese troops backed
War veterans have won international and royal backing for demands that memorial gates to be erected in London include tributes to Chinese soldiers.
Unanimous support was given at a conference of the British Commonwealth Ex-Services League and that body's executive will now take up the issue.
The multimillion-dollar set of six gates to be built across Constitution Hill at Hyde Park Corner near Buckingham Palace was originally to honour troops from the Indian sub-continent, but the scope was extended to Africa and the Caribbean.
A British woman, Jean Robinson, who lost relatives fighting for Hong Kong in World War II, wrote to Baroness Flather who spearheaded the campaign for the monument, asking for the Chinese to be included but was told it was too late.
That decision will now be challenged after a motion about the $22.5 million project was put forward by the Hong Kong delegation to the Commonwealth conference last month.
Cheers followed the unanimous vote in favour of the resolution 'that this conference is pleased to see that these memorial gates are to be erected in London to remember the sacrifices in two world wars of the Indian sub-continent, Africa and the Caribbean but supports Hong Kong in their request that their comrade Chinese, Eurasian and Portuguese who sacrificed their lives should also be with them on these gates'.
Jack Edwards, chairman of the Hong Kong and China Branch of the Royal British Legion who proposed the motion, said he and branch patron Sir Eric Hotung were supported by the Duke of Edinburgh, who presided over the conference.
Earlier this week, Mr Edwards received a letter from the league's secretary-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Sam Pope which said: 'I am not exactly sure what the executive committee will wish to do but I know that it will be positive.'
