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· 5-
deadlook over exit visas for the Mission. The ships themselves
are similar in appearance to strike carriers which the Governor
regards as "potentially controversial", but they are somewhat
smaller. They have apparently been mistaken in the local
communist press for strike carriers though I would suppose that
the Chinese intelligence have a very accurate record of the
various types of American naval vessels which visit Hong Kong
and can distinguish between them. For this reason and in view
of the changed position on visas, I think that in the interests
of Anglo-American relations and because of the benefit of naval
visits to Hong Kong financially and in terms of morale, we
should agree that these two categories of vessel be deleted.
7. The arguments against seeking to reduce the length of
stay of nuclear vessels to under five days seem to me conclusive.
I doubt if the unfavourable effect such as it is on the Chinese
would be much reduced if say the vessels stayed for only three
or four days.
8.
The American objection to our seeking to restrict the
number of visite of nuclear-powerad vessels presents more
difficulty. The Governor has categorised such visits as
"particularly controversial" and there is no doubt that the
Chinese have paid particular attention to them and are likely
to continue to do so particularly after the publicity occasioned
by the visit of a nuclear submarine to the Japanese port of
Sasebo when it was alleged (apparently without any foundation)
that there had been a leakage of radio-active material into
harbour. It is true however that the visits of smaller nuclear
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