CONFIDENTIAL
HONG KONG TELEGRAM NO. 212 TU COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
2
(U) TU CUMPLETE THE BACKGROUND, UR RULES GIVE ANY PRISONE A RIGHT OF ACCESS TO HIS CONSULAR REPRESENTATIVE AT ANY TIME:
BUT THIS OF COURSE REFERS TO A FORMAL REPRESENTATIVE.
4. THE QUESTION IS WHETHER ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE "FORMAL"
VISITS REQUESTED BY THE CHINESE CAN BE MADE WITHIN THIS FRAMEWORK
OF THE NORMAL VISITING PATTERN SET OUT ABOVE. I AM NOT AT ALL CLEAR WHAT THE CHINESE INTEND THE WORD "FORMAL" TO MEAN SEMI- COLON BUT FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW THERE ARE TWO POINTS THAT IT IS
ESSENTIAL TO AVOID CONCEDING:
(A) ANY ADMISSION OF A FORMAL RIGHT OF REPRESENTATIVES OF COMMUNIST ORGANISATIONS TO VISIT FRISONERS, PARTICULARLY WIDE AND ILL-DEFINED CATEGORIES OF PRISONERS OR GROUPS OF PRISONERS
TOGETHER SEMICOLON AND
(B) THE IMPLIED ADMISSION OF SOME FORM OF QUASI-CONSULAR STATUS FOR NON A. ALTHOUGH WE MAY HAVE USED PG ORGANS AS CHANNELS FOR COMMUNICATION FROM TIME TO TIME, I STILL FEEL WE NEED TO BE VERY CAREFUL IN THE LONGTERM INTEREST OF HONG KONG ABOUT CONCEDING QUASI-CONSULAR STATUS TO THEM. THE CONCESSION THAT WE HAVE ALREADY MADE, OF GRANTING AN NUNA VISIT TO NON A'S OWN EMPLOYEES CAN BE JUSTIFIED UNDER OUR EXISTING RULES.
5.
ON RECONSIDERING THE MATTER NOW, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE FOR US TO MAKE A NEW PROPOSAL TO THE CHINESE THAT WOULD GO SOME WAY TOWARDS MEETING THEIR REQUEST WITHOUT CONCEDING EITHER OF THE TWO PRINCIPLES ABOVE. I WOULD SUGGEST TELLING THEM THAT IN THINKING FURTHER ABOUT THEIR REQUEST FOR VISITS TO JOURNALISTS (PARAGRAPH 1(A) OF PERING TELEGRAM 84) IT OCCURRED TO US THAT THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A MISUNDERSTANDING. TWO POINTS WERE NOT CLEAR TU
US:-
(1) WHAT THEY MEANT BY A 'FORMAL' VISIT AND
(11) TO PRECISELY WHICH INDIVIDUALS THEY WISHED THE VISITS TO BE PAID.
WE WERE ALWAYS READY TO APLY OUR RULES FOR PRISON VISITS IN A REASONABLE MANNER. IF THEY WOULD SUPPLY US WITH THE NAMES OF THE ADDITIONAL JOURNALISTS [?GP. OMITTED] ESTION, WE WOULD BE PREPARED TO CONSIDER PERMITTING SINGLE VISITS TO EACH OF THEM INDIVIDUALLY BY HIS EMPLOYER AND/OR A RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL OF THE ORGANISATION EMPLOYING HIM, SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS:- (1) THE PRISONER MUST NOT OBJECT.
(11) EACH VISIT MUST BE TO A PRISONER INDIVIDUALLY.
CONFIDENTIAL
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