Mr. Wilkinson
CONFIDENTIAL
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N.. Gammará
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377
385
PROBLEM
DEPORTATION OF FIEK STARS FROM HONG KONG
PIZ
The two film stars whom the Government of Hong Kong tried
to deport to China as a test omne returned to Hong Kong on
15 March having spent 31 hours on the border bridge. The
Chinese made a serious protest to the Chargé d'Affaires in
Peking on the same day against the attempted deportation and
demanded that the two persons should be declared innocent and
set free (Peking telegram No. 207). Sir D. Hopson, in rejecting
the protest, pointed out that the Hong Kong Government saw their
action as a means of making progress and relieving tension and
not raising it as the Chinese had done by exploiting the
incident. The Governor of Hong Kong has proposed (Hong Kong
telegram Ko. 344) that we should pursue this line with the
Chinese through various channels simultaneously in order to
emphasise that we consideŸ such deportations as a useful way
of solving our mutual problems. Sir D. Hopson has advised
(Peking telegram No. 223) that initially at any rate we should
pursue this through one informal channel only.
RECOMENDAT IN
2. I recommend that we should pursue the Governor's proposal
in the manner favoured by Sir D. Hopson. We should not,
however, include in our approach any reference to the talks
now going on in Hong Kong with the New China News Agency
/(N.C.H.A.)
CONFIDENTIAL