CONFIDENTIAL
2
Vietnamese students tcre up the American flag.
They were
It is
then roughly handled by the indignant crowd and the Czechoslovak Government apologised for the incident. clear from the way that the report was handled that the Chinese regarded an official apology in such circumstances as an act of cowardice.
Unce again the Russians, Poles and East Germans were shown to be anxious about the vents in Czechoslovakia while the Hungarians were cautiously well-disposed,
POLAND
There were no reports this time specifically cn Polish internal affairs.
BUDAPEST MEETING
The Reference News devoted a good deal of space to the preparatory meeting in Budapest for the World Communist Conference at the end of the year, The main decisions reached at the meeting were covered, including the intention to hold the World Conference on 25 November, Cne repet suggested that the Chinese would almost certainly stay away and that the Rumanians and Yugoslavs would probably not attend either, Most of the articles pointed cut that there had been a good many differences cf cpinion at the meeting.
HUNG KUNG
The Reference News cf 30 April had a couple of articles abcut Hong Kong. Cne of them was headlined "Trench returns to London to discuss Sinc/British relations and other questions" The report said that Sir David would be discussing Hong Kong reserves, the possibility that Heng Keng would participate in the Asian Development Bank and would request aid from the World Bank, and Sinc/British relations. It is significant that the headline picked cut Sinc/British relations which was listed last in the actual report. The other article reported police exercises in Hong Kong cn 26 and 27 April, The account suggested that they were being mounted in preparation for 1 May and also for the first anniversary of the disturbances last year,
The arrival of the 10 Italians bent en gcing to Canton, preferably by car, was reported in the Reference News. They were said to be awaiting a consignment of Alfa Remecs from Rangoon before setting cut for Canton, They were wondering whether they would be allowed into China cr nct.
GEORGE WATT
Mr. Rogers' statement of 3 May on the George Watt case was picked up four days later. The report qucted Mr. Rogers as saying that although we had made representations to the Chinese Government many times sc far we had been given no details of the charges against Watt, cr consular access to him. This was inhuman and a viclation of established international practice. The article went on to say that Mr. Rcgers stated that Vickers-Zimmer had refused to accept the judgment of a Peking court (the details of the summons were not revealed). Mr. Rogers said that the case was due to have taken place on 25 April but that the British Government had had no information about whether the case had in fact been heard,
CONFIDENTI AL
/PAKISTAN