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Britain but the United States" and that the Chinese are keen
to have good relations with Britain. There was some further
Flag D
Flag A
general discussion but no real progress was made.
A
5. Li went to China on 18 May and the next meeing did not
take place until 10 July. On that date the contact claimed
that Chou En-lai personally had approved the channel of
communication between him and Cater on the assumption that it
was the only channel and should be kept very secret (Hong Kong
telegram No. 895). Of the points put by the contact, the
most specific was that the communists in Hong Kong were
concerned mainly about prisoners both convicted prisoners and
detainees and strikers but in the long run both might turn out
to be of minor significance and the most difficult problem
would be the question of saving face. The contact gave it as
his advice that it would be wrong to make concessions or to
start discussions on specific points at this stage.
It would
be sufficient (a) to confirm this channel of communication,
(b) to agree it should be kept secret, and (c) to reaffirm our
desire to have peaceful relations with China while maintaining
law and order in Hong Kong.
6. The Governor commented after this meeting that he suspended
judgement on whether the Chinese Government would in the end
try to use this channel of communication for serious business
but saw advantage in keeping the channel open. He accordingly
authorised Mr. Cater to proceed on the lines suggested.
then there have been further meetings on 16 July and 2 August
(Hong Kong telegram 996). In the course of these Mr. Cater
/ has been
Since
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