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1146
Extract of OP ((67) 29 meeting minutes
of 5 Syft.
144A
十
3.
HONG KONG
Gym J ... 2004
SECRET
In Carter.
The Committee considered a memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (OPD(67) 67) on the nature of United Kingdom relations with China in the light of recent anti-British activities in China and Hong Kong.
THE FOREIGN SECRETARY said that it was still impossible to diagnose the
The situation in China with accuracy or to predict how it would develop. innediate problem was to evacuate women and children from the Office of the British Charge d'Affaires in Peking and gradually to replace the present staff of the Mission. To break relations with China would not help to extricate our staff and their dependants and if conditions in China became somewhat more normal it would in any case be useful to have our representatives in Peking, even though the importance of maintaining a Mission was not substantial in the contexts of our trade with China or the protection of British subjects. He had sent a letter in relatively friendly terms to the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs and we had enlisted the aid of the President of Pakistan in seeking the evacuation of our present staff and their dependants. At present the situation seemed a little calmer. British Charge d'Affaires had been received by an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Peking, but the latter's reaction to the suggestion that women and children should be allowed to leave had not been very favourable: ho had reverted again to British behaviour in Hong Kong. The Foreign Office was examining, in conjunction with the Treasury, Board of Trade and Department of Economic Affairs, what financial and economic pressures could be exerted on China in cases of need, and the results of these deliberations would be put to the Committee in due course. For the present we should not take the initiative in breaking off diplomatic relations, we should take the consequential action recommended in his memorandum and we should again vote for the admission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations, while taking no action to promote it.
In discussion, some doubt was expressed about the possibility of
reconciling the need to take firm measures in Hong Kong with the
The
undesirability of taking any action which night provoke reprisals against the Office of the British Charge d'Affaires in Peking and it was urged that the former should where necessary prevail. The general view however was that the attempt should be made to hold the balance between these two factors and to keep the situation as calm as possible, though it was essential that we should take such action as was required to maintain full control in Hong Ilong.
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