Mr. Wilkinson
Problem
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SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS : VISAS FOR LONDON AND
PIKING
The Chinese have implied that they will provide exit
and entry visas for our Mission in Peking if we lift our
requirement for exit visas from Britain and grant a number of
cutstanding entry vicas for officials of the New China News
Agoncy (N.C.N.A.) and Bank of China. As usual the Chineso
have been extremely imprecise about their side of the bargain.
They do not appear to include in it British bank officials in
Shanghai (who have been waiting for exit vises for some months)
and they have specifically excluded the Reuters correspondent,
Hr. Gray. Nevertheless, Sir Donald Hopson considers that the
implica torms are moro reasonable than we might have expected
and recommends strongly that wo should agree to them without
dolay.
Recommendation
2.
I recommend that
(a) We should inform the Chinese that we intend to
suspend the requirement for exit visas in respect
of all persons to whom our procent regulations
apply on the clear understanding that the Chinese
will grant exit visas for our officials now and
in the future.
LAST
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/(b)