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not damned it in their propaganda and had subsequently
allowed five of our schoolchildren to come home.
6. I then asked Monsieur Faye whether his Government had
decided to withdraw any of their Embassy staff from Peking.
He carefully did not answer directly but said that he had
expressed the following views to Monsieur Couve de Murville.
Monsieur Paye thought that they should maintain their Mission
substantially at its present strength, perhaps reducing it
slightly and unobtrusively because of the reduced amount of
commercial and cultural work which was possible in present circumstances. He thought that there was still a very
important job to do in political reporting from Peking, and
that there was no reason at present why France should modify
her basic policies towards China. I asked: What about the
safety of the women and children of the Embassy? He replied
that he had his own wife and children in Feking and intended
to keep them there. He thought that there was no reason to
send them home or any other of his Embassy's women and
children unless Franco-Chinese relations sharply deteriorated.
He thought that he would get sufficient warning of this. He
was not concerned about small incidents which might occur in
Paris, for example, which could result in demonstrations
against his Embassy. These were, he said, of a different
order from the situation in Hong Kong which had resulted in
the burning of our Office. However, if a major difference
appeared to be developing between his country and Peking be
thought, armed with his present hindsight, he would get out
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