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CONFIDENTIAL
ABNEX D
A.
SINO-BRITISH RELARCONS
BRITISH SUBJECTS IN CHINA
Er. Anthony Grey of Hauteris
Mr. Grey was detained under house arrest on 21 July,
1967, in retaliation for the arrest and imprisonment of a
ropresentative of the New China News Agency (N.C.N.A.) in
Hong Kong. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary promptly lodged
a strong protest with the Chinese Chargé d'Affaires in London
and a parallel protest was made in Peking. Despite repeated
representations to the Chinese since then, we have not been
able to secure consular access to Mr. Grey who has been
incommunicado since his telephone was cut off in August.
2. The most recent attempts to obtain access have been made
in Peking where Sir Donald Hopson has been trying to obtain
Chinese agreement that if N.C.N.A. and responsible persons
on communist newspapers are allowed to make additional visits
to members of N.C.N.A. and other imprisoned cormunist journalists,
consular access will be granted to Mr. Grey. (Regular prison
visits in Hong Kong are already allowed.) The Chinese have
indicated agreement in principle provided satisfactory arrange-
ments can be made locally. Discussions are now taking place
between the Political Adviser, Hong Kong, and N.C.N.A. The
latter are pressing for concessions far beyond those which
the Government feels it safe to make e.g. visits to groups
of prisoners by groups of sympathisers, the introduction of
extra food, clothing and propaganda material not permitted by
prison regulations, It is hoped that some compromise can be
CONFIDENTIAL
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