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of Hong Kong has agreed that special visits are permissible
provided that the prisoners concerned conform to the regu-
Extra food and clothing or
lations by requesting them.
change in the procedure for special visits would not, however,
be possible without creating a dangerous precedent for other
prisoners. The Chinese have been informed, but have not
pursued the matter.
44. Sir D. Hopson, on instructions, has also revived the
suggestion first contained in the Secretary of State's letter
to the Chinese Foreign Minister on 31 August last that there
might be an exchange of Grey for N.C.N.A. personnel in prison. The initial Chinese response was unenthusiastic but the
official concerned promised to pass on the proposal to
higher authority.
5. From the time of Mr. Grey's house arrest in July up
until just before Christmas we all (i.e. the Foreign Office,
Sir D. Hopson and Reuters) agreed that publicity about Mr. Grey's case should be avoided as it might cause the Chinese
*
to bring charges against him. We hoped that a greater improve-
ment in Sino-British relations would enable us to make progress
over the case. Shortly before Christmas Sir D. Hopson
recommended that we should now give publicity to the case.
After consultation with Reutere, we decided to defer a decision
until the reassembly of Parliament. In the meantime an article
appeared about Mr. Grey in the Sunday Times, but as a result of our intervention it was in cautious terms and did not attract
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