CONFIDENTIAL
Hong Kong Depts, Co.
6/570
Record of a Meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary and the Chinese Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the Foreign Office on 24 May, 1968, at 11.00 a.m.
Present:
Parliamentary Under- Secretary
Mr. R.C. Samuel
Mr. J.D.I. Boyd
Chinese Chargé
d'Affaires ad interim
Interpreter
Mr. Rodgers said that since he had last spoken to Mr. Shen Ping on 5 April he was pleased to note that there had been some progress regarding visas for our staff in Peking and access to Mr. Grey. However exit visas were still outstanding and he hoped there would be no further and unforgiveable delay in granting them. There were no restrictions here on the movement of Chinese staff in and out of the country. We had a right to expect reciprocity.
2. Mr. Rodgers said that Sir Donald Hopson had been allowed to see Mr. Grey on 23 April. This was an advance, but served also to demonstrate how unsatisfactory Mr. Grey's conditions were. He had now been in solitary confinement for nine months. Public opinion in this country at all levels was outraged. Solitary confinement with only limited periods of exercise constituted barbaric treatment and Her Majesty's Government viewed the matter with the utmost concern. We looked for an improvement in Mr. Grey's conditions as a prelude to his release.
3. Mr. Rodgers observed that the situation of British subjects as a whole was totally unsatisfactory. We had had no reply to our repeated demands for information and access. In the case of Mr. Watt we had been refuscd evidence of his offence and access to him. These would have been granted as standard diplomatic practice by any civilised country. Even if, speaking hypothetically, there was evidence against Watt this was no reason for denying access. Mr. Rodgers then went over the ground regarding Mr. Barrymaine, Mr. Crouch, Mr. Jones, Mr. Shapiro, Mrs. Epstein, the Gordon family, Mr. Crook and Mr. and Mrs. Self. He also raised the
CONFIDENTIAL
/case
- 5 JUN 1968
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